data management for postgraduate students by lynn woolfrey

RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT FOR POSTGRADUATESLynn Woolfrey

lynn.woolfrey@uct.ac.za

Ulwazi Knowledge Commons, Chancellor Oppenheimer LibraryUniversity of Cape Town, 13 August 2015

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.”

Also called Research Data Curation

NEW REQUIREMENTS FROM FUNDERS AND UNIVERSITIES

Research Data Management

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

In SA the National Research Foundation now requires Data Management for Sharing

“[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).”

In line with Universities worldwide, UCT is creating policy that will require long-term

preservation of UCT research output including 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

RDM Supports Better Research - Keeping accurate records of the research

Process is sound research practice

RDM can prevent academic fraudProfessor Diederick Stapel, at Tilburg University - Published 55 academic papers -Supervised 19 Ph.D. degrees based on his data - Faked all his 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

Study Shows Meat Eaters are more Aggressive

RDM enables data re-useResearch funders want to maximise returns on theirinvestment in research by encouraging data re-use

WHO CAN HELP?Research Data Management

Data Services can take the RDM burden off researchers

At UCT DataFirst can help you prepare andshare your research data

HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT PLAN

Research 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 data description standard will you use todescribe your data?

Standards for file naming, versioning, metadata

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/index.htmlhttp://www.ddialliance.org/node/822http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/services/data-curation-process

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?

Web-tools for Data Management Planning

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

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 researchThis will be done through the coupling of data sharing to academic recognition, and through increased citations from Linked Open Data

Questions?

Questions?support@data1st.org