Research Data Management Course:

Survey Results

Cord Wiljes1

1Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC),Bielefeld University,

Inspiration 1, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany

Abstract

This report presents statistical data and a detailed analysis of a surveythat was conducted among participants of the course ”Research DataManagement” at Bielefeld University in the years 2013 to 2017.

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1 Research Data Management Course

We have been offering an interdisciplinary course on research data managementfor students since 2013. Since then, the course has been visited by over 100students. The course presents an introduction into the motivation, challengesand solutions of managing research data. Our aim is to enable students to applythe concepts learned in their own research work.

In this report we present statistical data about the course from Bielefeld Uni-versity’s electronic course catalogue and the results of an online survey amongthe course’s participants.

The raw survey data is available at [1].

2 Electronic Course Catalogue (eKVV) Data

The eKVV (”elektronisches kommentiertes Vorlesungsverzeichnis”) is BielefeldUniversity’s electronic course catalogue. Each course is listed and students canbook their courses online. Teachers can access the courses’ partcipants list. Thestatistical reports in this sectoon are based on the eKVV data.

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2.1 Number of participants per year

8 7

14

42

56

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Number of Participants

Year

Figure 1: Number of participants per year

2.2 Degree programs of participants

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

7

9

16

48

0 10 20 30 40 50

Mathematik / Kombi-BA (fw 1NF) (H)

Mathematik / Kombi-BA (fw 2NF) (N)

Bioinformatik und Genomforschung / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Molekularbiologie / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Bioinformatik und Genomforschung / Master fachwissenschaftlich…

Wirtschaftsmathematik / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Chemie / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Chemie / Promotionsstudiengang mit Regelstudienzeit (H)

Molekulare Biotechnologie / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Literaturwissenschaft / Kombi-BA (fw 1NF) (N)

Physik / Diplomprüfung (H)

Behaviour: From Neural Mech to Evolution / Master…

Physik / KEINE PRUEFUNG (H)

History, Economics and Philosophy of Science / Master…

Physik / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Chemie / Kombi-BA (fw 2NF) (H)

Quantitative Economics / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Literaturwissenschaft / Kombi-BA (fw 2NF) (N)

Soziologie / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Biologie / freie Promotion ohne RSZ (H)

InterAmerikanische Studien / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Soziologie / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Psychologie / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Physik, Nanowissenschaften / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Informatik / KEINE PRUEFUNG (H)

Physik / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Naturwissenschaftliche Informatik / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Kognitive Informatik / 1-Fach-BA (fw) (H)

Physik, Biophysik / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Intelligente Systeme / Promotionsstudiengang mit…

Naturwissenschaftliche Informatik / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Intelligente Systeme / Master fachwissenschaftlich (H)

Figure 2: Degree programs of participants

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2.3 Degree programs of participants91

Intelligent Systems: 57

Humanities: 4

MINT: 30

Social sciences:

9

Computer science: 28

Figure 3: Degree programs of participants

2.4 Participants by Bachelor/Master/PhD

Bachelor: 23

Master: 91

PhD: 12

Computer Figure 4: Participants by Bachelor/Master/PhD

3 Survey

The survey was conducted online with the Unpark/Questback system 1.In order to evaluate the seminar, we conducted an online survey based on

the Unipark/Questback platform 2. Invitations were sent by e-mail to all 128students of all five years (2013-2017), of which 31 completed the survey. The

1http://www.unipark.de2https://unipark.com

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following section presents the results of all questions asked in the survey. Theraw survey data can be found at [1].

3.1 In which year did you take the Research Data Man-agement course?

WiSe 2013; 1 WiSe 2015; 1

WiSe 2016; 10

WiSe 2017; 19

Figure 5: In which year did you take the Research Data Management course?

3.2 What is your study programme?

Biology; 1 Biophysics; 3

Computer Science; 12

Computer science,

physics; 1

Intelligent Systems; 8

Informatics in the Natural Sciences; 3

Physics; 1

Psychology; 1

Figure 6: What is your study programme?

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3.3 How old are you?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 36 40

Number of

Participants

Age in years

Figure 7: How old are you?

3.4 Are you currently studying for a Bachelor, Master orPhD?

Master

PhD

Anzahl von v_50

Figure 8: Are you currently studying for a Bachelor, Master or PhD?

5

3.5 What do you study?

Biology; 1 Biophysics; 3

Computer Science; 12

Computer science,

physics; 1

Intelligent Systems; 8

Informatics in the Natural Sciences; 3

Physics; 1

Psychology; 1

Figure 9: What do you study?

3.6 How did you learn about the Research Data Manage-ment seminar?

eKVV, 27

Website, 0

Word-of-mouth, 2

Poster, 0 E-Mail, 1 Friends, 1

Figure 10: How did you learn about the Research Data Management seminar?

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3.7 Please state your level of agreement

5

12

6

8

7

2

19

18

14

10

9

10

6

0

10

8

9

14

1

1

1

4

6

5

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

"The seminar was usefulfor my studies / research."

"I would recommend the seminarto other students."

"Learning about research data managementshould be mandatory for students."

"I would be interested in an advancedcourse about research data management."

"I would have liked more practical exercises."

"I would have liked more theoryand background information."

Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Figure 11: Please state your level of agreement

3.8 Which of these topics would you like to learn moreabout?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Good Scientific Practice

Data Backup

Documentation and Metadata

Software Tools

Finding and Re-Using Data

Data Archiving

Copyright Law

Open Science

Publishing Data

Privacy Protection Law

Date Management Plans

Electronic Lab Journals

Version Control Systems

Research Data Management for big data

Third Party Funding

Figure 12: Which of these topics would you like to learn more about?

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3.9 ”Scientific publications should be available free of chargefor everybody.” Do you agree?

Strongly agree

Agree

Undecided

Figure 13: ”Scientific publications should be available free of charge for every-body.” Do you agree?

3.10 ”Research data should be openly shared.” Do youagree?

Strongly agree

Agree

Undecided

Figure 14: ”Research data should be openly shared.” Do you agree?

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3.11 Did you already publish data?

Yes

No

Figure 15: Did you already publish data?

3.12 Would you be willing to publish data?

Yes

Maybe

Figure 16: Would you be willing to publish data?

References

[1] Cord Wiljes. Research Data Management Course: Survey Data, 2018.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and theCluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology ’CITEC’ (EXC 277)at Bielefeld University, which is funded by the German Research Foundation(DFG).

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