Open qualitative data: a worked example of qualitative data sharing from an interview study on loneliness in young adulthood 

Open data is increasingly a priority for research funders and data availability statements are commonly required for submissions to peer-reviewed journals. Although much of the recent momentum for data-sharing has arisen from the ‘replication crisis’ affecting experimental psychology, qualitative data can also be shared, although different considerations apply to this practice. Despite considerable discussion about qualitative data-sharing, there is less discussion of how to share novel qualitative interview data in psychology. In this article, we describe our motivations for and experiences of archiving qualitative interview data from a study exploring loneliness in young adulthood. We discuss the ethical issues that pertained to our process, particularly relating to consent, and the practical issues that arose as relative novices in data-sharing. We conclude with reflections that we hope will be instructive for qualitative researchers attempting to reconcile arguments for open data with the epistemological, ethical, and pragmatic realities of qualitative research.