%0 Journal Article %1 Feldman2012 %A Feldman, Lindsay %A Patel, Deesha %A Ortmann, Leonard %A Robinson, Kara %A Popovic, Tanja %D 2012 %J Lancet %K Education Georgia Graduate Graduate:_statistics_\&_numerical_data Humans Information_Dissemination open_education open_science open_science_training %N 9829 %P 1877--8 %R 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60809-5 %T Educating for the future: another important benefit of data sharing. %U http://www.thelancet.com/journals/a/article/PIIS0140-6736\%2812\%2960809-5/fulltext %V 379 %X There is growing support for making research data widely available to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, foster cross-sectoral collaboration, and ultimately enhance the translation of science to clinical and public health practice.1—3 Towards that goal, major funders of health research have recently launched a joint statement committing to increase the availability of public health research data in ways that are equitable, ethical, and efficient.4 We would like to draw attention to an additional, less widely recognised, yet important benefit of data sharing in the area of public health: education and professional development. Population-based research is time-consuming and resource-intensive, usually requiring multipartner and cross-sectoral engagements. Graduate students in the area of public health are often unable to do research on their own or within the setting of a smaller research community or laboratory. Yet understanding and analysis of population-based research data is a pivotal component of both graduate training and completion of a master's or doctoral thesis. The inherent richness of population-based research data, its usefulness for analysis through various lenses and points in time, and a natural desire for epidemiology to seek actionable information (ie, information translatable into interventions) justify the greater attention given to the secondary use of data and its fundamental role in public health research and education. To gain insight into the extent of secondary data use for educational purposes, we examined master's theses at three programmes at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, using the Electronic Theses and Dissertations Repository: 87 Master of Public Health (MPH), 15 Master of Arts in Psychology, and nine Master of Science programmes in the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Acknowledging the limitations of the numbers, it is nevertheless impressive that more than half (48 of 87) MPH students relied on secondary use of data for their theses, compared with only two of 15 psychology students, and none of the nine biology students, who relied on generating their own research data via bench or field research. The sources of the original data ranged widely and included the neighbouring Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, various departments within Emory University, and several non-profit organisations. Such heavy secondary use of public health research data by public health students for their master's theses are of general benefit to the public's health; data sharing and secondary analysis of data, intrinsic to public health research and education, allow for a more rapid translation of science to practice, and emphasise the needed resource shift from generation of the data to data analysis and subsequent implementation of proven public health interventions. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

@article{Feldman2012, abstract = {There is growing support for making research data widely available to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, foster cross-sectoral collaboration, and ultimately enhance the translation of science to clinical and public health practice.1—3 Towards that goal, major funders of health research have recently launched a joint statement committing to increase the availability of public health research data in ways that are equitable, ethical, and efficient.4 We would like to draw attention to an additional, less widely recognised, yet important benefit of data sharing in the area of public health: education and professional development. Population-based research is time-consuming and resource-intensive, usually requiring multipartner and cross-sectoral engagements. Graduate students in the area of public health are often unable to do research on their own or within the setting of a smaller research community or laboratory. Yet understanding and analysis of population-based research data is a pivotal component of both graduate training and completion of a master's or doctoral thesis. The inherent richness of population-based research data, its usefulness for analysis through various lenses and points in time, and a natural desire for epidemiology to seek actionable information (ie, information translatable into interventions) justify the greater attention given to the secondary use of data and its fundamental role in public health research and education. To gain insight into the extent of secondary data use for educational purposes, we examined master's theses at three programmes at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, using the Electronic Theses and Dissertations Repository: 87 Master of Public Health (MPH), 15 Master of Arts in Psychology, and nine Master of Science programmes in the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Acknowledging the limitations of the numbers, it is nevertheless impressive that more than half (48 of 87) MPH students relied on secondary use of data for their theses, compared with only two of 15 psychology students, and none of the nine biology students, who relied on generating their own research data via bench or field research. The sources of the original data ranged widely and included the neighbouring Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, various departments within Emory University, and several non-profit organisations. Such heavy secondary use of public health research data by public health students for their master's theses are of general benefit to the public's health; data sharing and secondary analysis of data, intrinsic to public health research and education, allow for a more rapid translation of science to practice, and emphasise the needed resource shift from generation of the data to data analysis and subsequent implementation of proven public health interventions. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest. }, added-at = {2013-09-24T10:52:13.000+0200}, author = {Feldman, Lindsay and Patel, Deesha and Ortmann, Leonard and Robinson, Kara and Popovic, Tanja}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2beae1dc2027fdabd4d27c836df75d803/openscidev}, doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60809-5}, file = {:home/jenny/.local/share/data/Mendeley Ltd./Mendeley Desktop/Downloaded/Feldman et al. - 2012 - Educating for the future another important benefit of data sharing.pdf:pdf}, interhash = {a0e8ba0c8fca0d9ac40be934df168404}, intrahash = {beae1dc2027fdabd4d27c836df75d803}, issn = {1474-547X}, journal = {Lancet}, keywords = {Education Georgia Graduate Graduate:_statistics_\&_numerical_data Humans Information_Dissemination open_education open_science open_science_training}, mendeley-tags = {open education,open science,open science training}, month = may, number = 9829, pages = {1877--8}, pmid = {22608336}, timestamp = {2013-09-24T10:52:13.000+0200}, title = {{Educating for the future: another important benefit of data sharing.}}, url = {http://www.thelancet.com/journals/a/article/PIIS0140-6736\%2812\%2960809-5/fulltext}, volume = 379, year = 2012 }