Practical Tools for Personal and Sensitive Research Data - Curated Table

This resource is a community-maintained curated table of practical software tools that researchers can use to manipulate personal or sensitive data throughout the research lifecycle. It was produced by members of Work Group 1 (WG1) of the Personal Data Support Network (PDSN) node, within the Swiss Research Data Support Network (SRDSN) (researchdatasupport.ch).

The table is intended to help researchers, data stewards, and support staff at Swiss higher education institutions (HEIs) identify suitable tools for handling personal or sensitive research data in a privacy-respecting and legally compliant manner.

The table covers only tools that researchers actively use (or can use) to manipulate data., so it does not include guides on compliance procedures nor training material.

The table is organized into 6 thematic sheets: Collection, Transcribe, Pseudo & Anonymize, Share, Encrypt, and Others. Each tool entry is described along consistent dimensions: main function, use case, open-source status, technical complexity (Nerd Degree), data type, deployment model, AI/ML usage, Swiss institutional support, and comments.

This dataset includes the curated table in two formats (ODS and XLSX) and a README file. The information is provided on a best-effort basis; contributors do not assume responsibility for its accuracy, completeness, or currency. Users are advised to verify tool-specific information - especially regarding legal compliance and data protection - before making decisions.