Research Data Management for PostgraduatesLynn Woolfrey

lynn.woolfrey@uct.ac.za

Ulwazi Knowledge Commons, Chancellor Oppenheimer LibraryUniversity of Cape Town, 27 March, 2014

Research Data Management

Preparing Data for Re-use

Data Collection and File Creation

Depositing Data for re-use

Data Analysis

Project Start-Up

Proposal Development &

DM Planning

“In the context of research …"Data Management" refers to the storage, access and preservation of data produced from a given investigation.”

Texas A&M, Research Data Management Lib Guide http://guides.library.tamu.edu/DataManagement Graphic from Jake Carlson and Ron Nakao. ICPSR Summer Program Course on “Curating Curating and Managing Research Data for Re-Use https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/sumprog/courses/0149

Also called Research Data Curation

From 2011 research funders began requiring research data management plans in funding proposals

UCT is creating policy and infrastructure for the long-term preservation of UCT research output and its underlying data

WHY SHOULD WE DO IT?Research Data Management

Actually, where IS my data?

What do they mean by RDM?

Who are they to tell me what to do with my data?

The university is just dreaming up more admin for me!

To ensure research data is preserved and discoverable in the long-term

To control the data deluge

To support more rigorous

research

To ensure data preservation

and data discovery

For new research by

original researchers

For new research by

other researchers

For data verification to prevent academic

fraud

Why should our research data be actively managed?

RDM supports better research

Keeping accurate records of the research process issound research practice

RDM can prevent academic fraud

Findings of Professor Diederick Stapel, at Tilburg University (including that meat eaters are more aggressive) were found to be based on faked data.He published 55 academic papers and Supervised 19 Ph.D. degrees based on the data.

“Stapel’s fraud went undetected for so long because of “a general culture of careless, selective and uncritical handling of research and data” at the University

Data Shows Meat Eaters are more Aggressive

RDM enables data re-use

Research funders want to maximise returns on theirinvestment in research by encouraging data re-use

HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT PLANResearch Data Management

Data Management Planning elements

• Data Type• Data Format (including size of data files)• Data description (metadata) standards used• Storage and backup• Security• Responsibility• Ownership and Intellectual Property rights• Data sharing

What type of data will you collect?

Research Data is ….primary input into research and first order results of that research

• “…Records documenting the research process (e.g. research protocols; applications for regulatory approvals and approvals granted)

• Records documenting research outcomes or products (e.g. technical reports)• Records documenting the management of the research process/project(s)(e.g.

applications for funding; contracts; purchase invoices; staff timesheets)• Research data in both ‘raw’ and ‘analysed’ form (e.g. datasets in Stata; notes;

completed questionnaires; audio/video recordings; images; instrument readings; samples).

What format will your data be in?

Results of a UCT survey on research data management needs, April 2013.

How much data will you collect?

Who owns the data? Who will manage the data?

What standards will you use todescribe your data?

Standards for file naming, versioning, metadata

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resourceshttp://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/index.htmlhttp://surveynetwork.org/;www.ddialliance.orghttp://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/catalog

How will your data be stored?

• How will data be stored and backed up during the project?• How will data be selected for longer-term preservation?• How much space will you need for your data?• In which repository will the data be held?• How long will the data be retained? • How will data security be handled during the project for access by

collaborators and data transfer from the field to storage?• How will you deal with confidential data during the project?• How will data authenticity be assured?

How will your data be shared?

“[If Intellectual Property rights don’t apply] the data generated from this research must become available to other researchers working in the same field (National Research Foundation: Acceptance of grant conditions 2010).”

Plan for data sharing now

Your research reputation will in future be linked to making your well-organised research data available to the academic community once you complete your research. This will be done through the coupling of data sharing to academic recognition, and through increased citations from Linked Open Data.

Web-tools for Data ManagementPlanning

https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/ http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage https://dmp.cdlib.org/

Questions?

Questions?