Blad met gegevens, foto Vladislav Bulatov

Handling research data with care

How do I deal with datasets that contain personal data?

Before the start of a research project, a researcher makes the decision to collect data him/herself or to use existing datasets or a combination of the two. This process, if applicable, takes place simultaneously with the application for the ethical review.

Paper-based or digital datasets

For academic research, paper-based or digital datasets that also contain traceable personal data are often used. This may include

Public datasets

In addition, there are specific guidelines when public datasets and web scraping are used to collect personal data.

Tilburg University considers the data collected in the context of such research to be personal data. This policy choice has been made because patterns from such surveys may be traceable to individuals in the future.