Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community
Summary
The ResearchOps Community is more than halfway through their third global project, this one on Research Repositories. Join Dana Chrisfield and Brigette Metzler as they take you through a short tour of what the project team have done so far, what they've learned, and what's next.
Key Insights
-
•
Research repositories are inherently social tools that enable knowledge sharing beyond just storing data, requiring strategies to socialize and evangelize findings.
-
•
There is a significant operational divide between the skills researchers have and those needed to build and maintain effective research repositories.
-
•
Mature, well-funded research repositories are rare; many organizations rely on fragmented and informal systems like Google Drive or Airtable.
-
•
Research repositories must serve multiple user roles and use cases across the research lifecycle, balancing immediate evaluative insights with durable strategic knowledge.
-
•
A key challenge is incentivizing researchers to contribute consistently to repositories due to lack of direct benefit or recognition.
-
•
Good governance involving legal consent and data sharing policies is critical and complex, requiring regional and international compliance considerations.
-
•
The project developed a standardized vocabulary and taxonomy to enable consistent tagging and categorization of research artifacts.
-
•
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted planned workshops but also emphasized the need for flexible digital collaboration and lowered community pressure.
-
•
Secondary researchers or communications specialists who manage repository knowledge socialization are rare but could greatly enhance repository effectiveness.
-
•
Open source tools like the consent form builder partnered with Consent Kit provide scalable legal frameworks for sharing user research ethically.
Notable Quotes
"Research repositories and libraries are social things — many teams look for best practices beyond just building a library."
"Put more in than you take out — that’s the rule of thumb I give for contributing to repositories."
"Having a repo isn’t the same as having a strategy for socializing and evangelizing the research."
"Maintaining a research repository often requires 100% manual participation from researchers, which can be hard to enforce."
"Research Ops needs an operational brain — it’s not the kind of brain researchers usually carry."
"We decided to take a broad definition of research repositories to lessen shame and embrace the complexity of current practices."
"There’s a tension in repositories having to serve immediate product decisions and more durable, strategic knowledge."
"Mature research repositories are rare, and return on investment depends heavily on scale, governance, and organizational structure."
"Researchers are often nervous about their research being used in the wrong way, so trust and communication matter."
"We partnered with Consent Kit to create and maintain an open source consent form builder that addresses multiple legal frameworks."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"It doesn’t matter when work is done, so long as it’s done and its quality."
Lavy Kumar Kat Temple Shan Sebastian Tara Jensen Jenn ChouFuture of Work
June 9, 2021
"The pandemic pushed us to be creative, and it’s been fun for users to participate remotely in the design process."
Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig BrookesWhat Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?
March 11, 2021
"Regular surveys showed teaching quality mattered 11%, but logistic regression revealed it actually represents 77% of the decision."
Ricardo MartinsUnlocking the power of advanced quantitative methods
March 12, 2025
"Satya Nadella’s leadership feels authentic—he puts empathy at the center of everything he does."
Monty HammontreeThe Future of UX Research
December 3, 2020
"The designers started to send notes of thank you to the ex members of the design ops team for making their life easier."
Benjamin RealShowing the Value of DesignOps by Not Having a DesignOps Team
October 21, 2020
"Every operation is going to have whirlwinds and fires all the time; strategy doesn't end that."
Kate TowseyAsk Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
April 2, 2025
"Both tribes really believe in doing awesome for customers, that’s our common ground."
Steve Portigal Chris Chapo Kelly Goto Christian RohrerDiscussion
May 13, 2015
"There isn’t necessarily a conflict between security and accessibility; it’s a matter of thoughtful design."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
March 28, 2023
"Including people with disabilities in prototype reviews can be different based on the assistive technology they use and their needs."
Sam ProulxPrototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You
October 1, 2021
