European survey on scholarly practices and digital needs in the human sciences

This multi-authored report summarizes the results from a transnational questionnaire survey conducted in 2015 by a research team within the DARIAH-EU Digital Methods and Practices Observatory Working Group (DiMPO). The Introduction offers a background to the study in the context of digital humanities work and scholarly practices research. Chapter 1 introduces the methodology, methods, and research design of the study. Chapter 2 presents and discusses the descriptive statistical results of analysing the full dataset of 2,177 valid responses of researchers who reside in Europe and identify one of the human sciences as their primary discipline. It summarises respondent profiles, and findings related to use of research materials and digital access, digitally-enabled scholarly activities, methods and tools, digital publication and dissemination of research results, use of software and services, and respondent assessment of digital needs. Chapters 3 to 9 present a similar analysis for respondents from European countries that have yielded more than 100 valid responses, in the form of national profiles for Austria (Chapter 3), Finland (Chapter 4), Greece (Chapter 5), Lithuania (Chapter 6), Poland (Chapter 7), Serbia (Chapter 8), and Switzerland (Chapter 9). Finally, the study questionnaire is included as an Appendix. The report will hopefully provide a useful baseline for further, timely longitudinal research on the shifting practices and needs of European digitally-enabled researchers in the human sciences.