The research team hypothesized and developed a theory. Questionnaires were created and observational data collected to portray a section of reality in a new way. For a handful of people, that job was the center of attention for months. Ultimately, however, the theory could not be confirmed from the data, and the expected publication came to nothing – the fate of many research projects. The focus quickly shifts to new challenges. And the dataset collected? Should it be made available to other research teams? After all, other insights may perhaps be drawn from it. Or is it considered data junk that can be deleted without any problems?
