Getting to grips with
Research Data Management
19th March 2015
Isabel Chadwick,
Research Data Management Librarian
rdm-project@open.ac.uk
Overview of the workshop
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What is Research Data Management?
Sharing data
Working with data
Planning for data
Useful resources
Questions?
What is Research Data Management?
“Research data management concerns the
organisation of data, from its entry to the research
cycle through to the dissemination and archiving of
valuable results. It aims to ensure reliable
verification of results, and permits new and
innovative research built on existing information."
Digital Curation Centre (2011)
Making the Case for Research Data Management
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Making%20the%20case.pdf
What is Research Data Management?
Discussion
• Describe your research
• What type of data will you/do you create/use?
What is Research Data Management?
UK Data Archive Data Lifecycle model
Preserving
datato data
Giving access
Re-using
data
Analysing
data
Migrate
data
to
best
Distribute
data
Creating
data
Data
oftendata
have
a longer
• •Processing
research
• Follow-up
Interpret data
format
Share
data
Design
Enter
data,
research
digitise,
than
the
research
• ••lifespan
New
research
Derive
data
Migrate
data
to suitable
Control
access
Plan
transcribe,
data
management
translate
that
creates
them.
• ••project
Undertake
research
Produce research
medium
Establish
copyright
• reviews
Plan
Check,
consent
validate,
for clean
outputs
Back-up
and
store
data
Promote
data
sharing
data
may continue
to work
• ••You
Scrutinise
findings
Author publications
Create
metadata
and
Locate
Anonymise
existing
datadata
data after
funding
has
• ••onTeach
and
learn
Prepare
data
for
documentation
•ceased;
Collect
Describe
data
data projects
follow-up
preservation
•may
Archive
data
(experiment,
Manage
and
observe,
storetodata
analyse
or add
the
measure,
simulate)
data;
data may
be re-used
•by Capture
and create
other researchers.
metadata
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/life-cycle
What is Research Data Management?
Why spend time and effort on this?
• So you can work efficiently and
effectively
–Save time and reduce frustration
–Highlight patterns or connections
that might otherwise be missed
• Because your data is precious
• To enable data re-use and sharing
• To meet funders’ and institutional
requirements
What is Research Data Management?
What does the OU expect?
“Research data must be managed to the highest
standards throughout their life-cycle in order to
support excellence in research practice.
In keeping with OU principles of open-ness, it is
expected that research data will be open and
accessible to other researchers, as soon as
appropriate and verifiable, subject to the
application of appropriate safeguards relating to
the sensitivity of the data and legal requirements.”
OU Principles of Research Data Management, April 2013
http://intranet.open.ac.uk/research-school/strategy-infogovernance/docs/CoPamendedJuly2013mergedwithappendix-forintranet.pdf
What is Research Data Management?
What do funders expect?
“Publicly funded research data are a public good,
produced in the public interest, which should be
made openly available with as few restrictions as
possible in a timely and responsible manner that
does not harm intellectual property.”
RCUK Common Principles on Research Data Policy, 2011
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy/
Sharing data
Benefits of sharing data
Sharing data
Benefits of sharing data (2)
Sharing data
Benefits of sharing data (3)
Sharing data
What do you need to share?
• Raw data
• Derived data
• Data underpinning
publications
• Code
• Methods
What are research data in your context?
What would others need to understand your research?
Sharing data
Barriers to sharing data: discussion
Discuss barriers to sharing
your research data.
These could be:
• Ethical
• Legal
• Professional
Can these barriers be
overcome?
Sharing data
How can I share my data?
OU Data Catalogue in ORO
Data access statements
Funders’ repository services
• UK Data Service ReShare
• NERC data centres
Online data sharing services
• Figshare
• Zenodo
• CKAN DataHub
Directories
• re3data
• DataBib
Working with data
“Start as you mean to go on”
Data Sharing
The end point of all projects should
involve making the data publicly
available. Many data will be
deposited in national archives which
have regulations for files and
metadata.
Thinking about the requirements at
the beginning of the project will limit
the transformations needed at the
end of the project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQNadL5t8hg
Working with data
Filing systems
Filing is more than saving files, it’s
making sure you can find them later in
your project
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Naming
Directory Structure
File Types
Versioning
All these help to keep your data safe
and accessible.
Working with data
Naming conventions
Decide on a file naming convention at the start of your project.
Useful file names are:
• consistent.
• meaningful to you and your colleagues.
• allow you to find the file easily.
Agree on the following elements of a file name:
• Vocabulary
• Punctuation
• Dates (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Order
• Numbers
• Version information
Ideally you should be able to tell what’s in a file before opening it.
Working with data
File formats
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Unencrypted
Uncompressed
Non-proprietary/patent-encumbered
Open, documented standard
• Standard representation (ASCII, Unicode)
Type
Recommended
Avoid for data sharing
Tabular data
CSV, TSV, SPSS portable
Excel
Text
Plain text, HTML, RTF
PDF/A only if layout matters
Word
Media
Container: MP4, Ogg
Codec: Theora, Dirac, FLAC
Quicktime
H264
Images
TIFF, JPEG2000, PNG
GIF, JPG
Structured data
XML, RDF
RDBMS
Further examples: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/format/formats-table
Working with data
Metadata
• Metadata is additional information that is required
to make sense of your files – it’s data about data.
• This is not a new idea; consider your music or film
collection;
• Think: title, authors, release date, producers,
directors, etc.
• Maybe the artwork, the studio, or format
Image by Wilfried Joh: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wilfriedjoh/11494134233 (CC- BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Working with data
Metadata (2)
What contextual details are needed?
•Who is in this picture?
•When was it taken?
•Where are they?
•Who took this photo?
•How was this picture taken?
Working with data
Backing up
Remember the 3-2-1 rule:
3 copies, 2 formats, 1 off-site
Working with data
Sensitive data
Working with data
Sensitive data (2)
Managing sensitive data
• If possible, collect the necessary data without using
personally identifying information
• De-identify your data upon collection or as soon as
possible thereafter
• Avoid transmitting unencrypted personal data
electronically
• Consider whether you need to keep original collection
instruments (recordings, surveys etc.) once they have
been transcribed and quality assured
Working with data
Storage and Security: Discussion
• Discuss the data security issues raised by
the scenarios.
• What practical measures could have been
taken to reduce risks to security?
Planning for data
Data Management Plans are useful
whenever you are creating data to:
• Make informed decisions to anticipate
and avoid problems
• Avoid duplication, data loss and
security breaches
• Develop procedures early on for
consistency
• Ensure data are accurate, complete,
reliable and secure
• Save time and effort – make your life
easier!
Planning for data
DMPOnline
A web-based tool to help you
write DMPs according to
different requirements. DCC,
funder and OU guidance.
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk
Planning for data
Tips
• Keep it simple, short and specific
• Seek advice - consult and
collaborate
• Base plans on available skills
and support
• Make sure implementation is
feasible
• Justify any resources or
restrictions needed
Useful links
• VRE module: http://www.open.ac.uk/students/research/content/activites/researchdata-management
• The OU Research Data Management intranet site:
http://intranet6.open.ac.uk/library/main/supporting-ou-research/research-datamanagement
• Digital Curation Centre: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/
• DMPOnline: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
• UK Data Archive: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
• MANTRA: http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/
• The Orb: http://open.ac.uk/blogs/the_orb
Questions?
Image credits
Unless otherwise stated, all images are by
Jørgen Stamp at http://www.digitalbevaring.dk