The Potential of Decentralized Personal Data Stores in psychological research

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of data sharing has been emphasized in psychological research, and systems for data sharing have been developed. However, currently existing methods have not enabled secondary analysis that examines the relationships among variables across multiple data sets. To conduct secondary analysis beyond a single data set, a sharing system is needed to link data from the same individual that exists in multiple data sets. In the current study, we focused on decentralized personal data stores (decentralized PDS) as a sharing system for securely linking data among individuals. We discuss the issues that need to be resolved to popularize decentralized PDS in psychological research and the potential benefits of decentralized PDS becoming more prevalent in psychological research.