57 Select Appropriate Software and Computing Solutions

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Lesson 11 of 18

There are things to consider when selecting software tools for your research (e.g., third party transcription software), particularly if you are planning to use a service that is not made available to you through your institution and that runs in the cloud.

As noted in the previous section on storage, it is important to be aware of terms of service and privacy policies.

• Consider the terms of service for the product and whether they meet your needs for security and confidentiality.
• Remember that cloud services use distributed data centres. If those data centres are outside of your country of residence data stored on them could also be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.
• Look at the providers’ policies on data use. Some companies use the data you input into their system to improve their products (i.e., to train their algorithms). If you have assured participants that the data they provide will only be used for the research purposes stated on your consent form, you should not be providing it to a company that uses the data to improve their commercial product.
• Check with your local IT or research computing department for advice on what is available to you through your institution. Many institutions have enterprise contracts with service providers. Enterprise solutions can be better than free or individual accounts because your institution will have conducted privacy impact and security assessments on those services.
• The Digital Research Alliance of Canada has advanced research computing and storage services. Note that faculty members at Canadian universities (and some other Canadian institutions) can get accounts. Students need to be sponsored to get accounts. For more information see the Alliance website.

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