Project
Research Data Collections Project
Title
Interview template
Version
1.0
Date effective
5 November 2010
Last updated
5 November 2010
Scope note
Contains the questions asked in the research data interview
along with usage guidelines. The first page contains a table of
the fields which may be pre-populated by information from
research administrative systems. In addition it has a helpful
‘setting the scene’ introduction.
Authorship
Research Data Collections Project Team
Contact
URL: http://www.researchdata.monash.edu/collections-project/
Email: researchdata@monash.edu
Licensing
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Project
This project is supported by the Australian National Data
acknowledgement Service (ANDS) through the National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy Program and by Monash University
Library.
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Research Data Collections Project Interview Template
Reference number (internal)
Interview location
Time/Date:
Name of interview subjects

Title + Given names + PCI surname
Campus

Main campus
School

Department
Faculty

Faculty
Project title

Project title
Category (of research)

Category (of research)
Co-creators

Investigators
RM project No

RM project No
Grantor code

Grantor code
Fund source

Fund source
FoR code (6 digits)

FoR code assignments
Project funding last received

Year received
Final report due

Final report due
Ethics
NLA identifier
Creator on ARROW
Project Abstract
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November 2010
Setting the scene
The goal of our project is to showcase Monash University research datasets and data collections
through a new website called Research Data Australia.
We can look at this online : http://services.ands.org.au/home/orca/rda/
Monash University Library is participating in this project because evidence is emerging that
research data that can be discovered, cited and re-used raises the profile of researchers and can
create new collaboration opportunities. We are also hoping this process will start preparing
researchers for changes to the funding guidelines from ARC and NHMRC and other funding
agencies, which increasingly encourage grant awardees to assess the future value of the data
they are generating and consider depositing research data into trusted repositories and data
stores.
You have a number of projects which have received public funding and we were hoping your
research may have generated one or more data sets or a data collections that could be
showcased. We are hoping to gather some information from you. If you are willing, one possibility
is to use this information to create a catalogue record within the Monash University ARROW
Repository. Once we have done that, the collection is automatically registered with Research
Data Australia.
Before we get started, we want to reassure you that data collections that are registered with
Research Data Australia do NOT have to be publicly accessible via the Internet.
We understand that many researchers have concerns about providing access to their data. We
also recognise that legal, ethical, and commercial restrictions apply to many data collections, and
that access could require a password, direct contact with the researcher, and in some cases even
applying to the ethics committee or the governing group for the project.
Later in the interview we will talk to you about some different levels of access and will consider
legal, ethical and commercial restrictions. If you ARE willing and able to share your data, some of
the information that we gather today can be used to assess the suitability of your data for deposit
into trusted Monash University repositories or data stores.
The interview should take about 45 minutes. Do you have any questions before we get started?
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November 2010
Questions are provided with usage guidelines.
1.
Overview : what data was involved, who collected or created it, and how it was obtained and used
1.1 Can you tell us briefly about the goals of a research project which would have a data set or data collection?
Provides basis for abstract about the data collection
Description
1.2.1 What types of data did the project involve?
[If multiple types and/or formats, establish is there more than one collection or sub-collection before proceeding. If there are
multiple collections or sub-collections, may need to go through some of the questions more than once.]
Examples may include survey, questionnaire, interview transcript, bibliography, index, annotations, statistical data and
analyses, sound recordings, videorecordings, measurements, images, fieldwork notes.
Type
1.2.2 What formats were used for the data in the project?
Examples may include doc, xls, xlsx, jpeg, SPSS, html, txt, csv etc. If the file format is proprietary, indicate the program and
whether the software is readily available.
File Formats
1.3 Is the data referred to by a formal name? Title or alternative title e.g. subtitle
[e.g. Interferome: The Database of IFN Regulated Genes; Australia and New Zealand Jewish Population Survey;
Restoration Theatre Song Archive]
Record a specific title rather than a generic title. Spell out acronyms (also need full title) and record short versions of long
titles.
Title
Yes:


Title
Alternative Title
Acronyms
What is the full title?
Are there also other ways that the data is referred
to?
No:

What would be a suitable working title for the data?
Prompt for variant of project name if necessary
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November 2010
1.4 Who collected or created the data during the project?
Validate names, roles, faculties/departments from prepopulated list of researchers above including any co-resesearcher
details. If an NLA identifier exists, confirm with researcher. e.g. http://nla.gov.au/nla.......
Creators /
Contributors
Roles / Affiliations
Related Object –
Party
1.5 Was all the data that you used newly created or collected, or did you source data from elsewhere?
Many projects will have a mixture.
Copyright /
Ownership
For new data
 How was the data collected or created?
 Was any special equipment or software involved?
Hardware and
Software
Requirements
Source Data
Copyright /
Ownership
Potential Re-use
For existing data
 Who provided the data?
 How was the data provided to you?
 Did you derive new data from the source data?
 What were the terms and conditions associated with
the use of the data and any derived data?
May need to address this later.
1.6 How was the data processed or analysed for this project?
Was the quantitative data entered into Excel/SPSS and analysed? Were interviewees de- identified?
Hardware and
Software
Requirements
File Formats
File Dependencies
1.7 Was the process of obtaining and using the data reviewed by a Human Ethics committee or other body?
Simply note for now. This is addressed in more detail later in the interview under Access Conditions.
Ethics – Privacy /
Confidentiality /
Consent
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November 2010
1.8 Is the data or the process you used to obtain or analyse it, commercially sensitive in any way?
Simply note for now. This is addressed in more detail later in the interview under Access Conditions.
2.
Commercial-inConfidence
Timeline. Only apply this to data that has been collected or created, not third party data that has only been analysed.
2.1 When did the data start being collected?
Creation Date
Start Date
2.2 Are additions or amendments to the collection still being made?
State of
Completion
If active:
 When was it last added to or amended?
 How frequently is it being updated?
 When will it be complete?
State of
Completion
Date Last Updated
End Date
Updating
Frequency
If static:
 When was the data last updated?
2.3 How long does the data need to be retained for? Standard retention periods are:
Retention Plan



5 years - Standard retention period
7 years - Psychological testing or intervention with adults
15 years - Medical research involving clinical trials
 25 years after date of birth of participants - Psychological testing or intervention with children
If researcher is not sure, may need to prompt using standard retention periods above.
2.4 Will the data be destroyed at the end of the retention period, or is it more likely to be retained because it has longer term
Disposal Plan
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November 2010
value?
Prompt, if necessary, with common scenarios, such as controversial; wide public interest; uses an innovative technique for
the first time; shifts the paradigm in this field of inquiry; costly or impossible to reproduce.
If data will be destroyed:
 Who will be responsible for making or reviewing the
destruction decision?
3.
If the data has longer term value:
 Who will be responsible for making decisions about
the data in the long term?
 How might the data be used in the future, by you /
the research team / others?
Disposal Plan
Contact Person /
Asset Manager
Affiliation
Scholarly content : what the data covers
3.1 Does the data relate to a particular time period?
Dates/times or textual equivalent.
Temporal
Coverage
3.2 Does the data relate to a particular place?
Coordinates or textual equivalent.
Geospatial
Coverage
3.3 Do you know the Field of Research Codes that relate to the data.
Validate from the list of FoR codes above.
Field of Research
3.4 Have you catalogued, coded or ‘tagged’ or described the content of the collection in any way?
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November 2010
If Yes:
Can you tell us more about how you have done this?
Was an existing list of discipline related keywords used?
Has it been described according to a standard?
If No:
Can you think of words or phrases that are different from
the Field of Research Codes that might help someone that
was searching for your data?
For example, keywords that are specific for your discipline?
Can you suggest keywords? Is there a thesaurus available?
Common examples are: APAIS,MESH, ATED?
3.5 Is there any other information or documentation you can provide about the content of the data collection?
Examples may include surveys, notebooks, manuals,spreadsheets etc.How do you record analysis? Is the accompanying
documentation print or electronic?
4.
Keywords /
Subjects
Metadata
Available
Metadata
Specification
Documentation
Physical characteristics: extent of the collection and how things are organised
4.1 How many items are there?
For example 100 interview sound recordings with transcripts or 1500 digital images of tissue samples.
Number of Objects
4.2 What would a typical item be in terms of size? What would the largest item be in terms of size?
Record approximation of individual file sizes.
Object Size
4.3 What is the overall size of the collection?
Where possible record the amount of disk space.
Collection Size
4.4 What approach did you take to organising or structuring the collection?
Are the files in a folder structure that must be retained? Do they all have unique file names? Is it organised according to a
standard? Are the files in a database or other stand alone application? Are these files digital or in paper form? Cross
Collection
Structure
Metadata
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November 2010
reference with 1.2.2 above.
Available
Metadata
Specifications
4.5 How have you approached naming or numbering the items within the collection?
 e.g. each item has an automatic number in the database
 e.g. each file has a name
If each file has a name, has this name been constructed using any type of local system or type of standard?
Collection
Structure
Metadata
Available
Metadata
Specifications
4.6 How important is the way the collection is organised or structured, in relation to interpreting the data?
Do we need to leave it as you have organised it? Is any user likely to use individual files with out needing other files?
For example a web site with data embedded.
File Dependencies
4.7 Is there any other documentation available about the way the collection is organised and structured?
If there is, can a copy be provided?
Documentation
5. Where the data is located
5.1 Where is the master copy of the data located now?
Is the data held locally or on a secure university server?
Physical Address
Electronic Address
Secure Storage
Backup / Recovery
Identifiers /
Reference
Numbers
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5.2 Is the master copy secure in its current location?
Secure Storage
5.3 Are back-up copies stored in another location?
Backup / Recovery
5.4 Who has access to the data in its current location?
Access Conditions
5.5 Has a copy of the data itself ever been published, in a journal or a data archive or repository?
This is about the data being published in its own right. It is not about published articles that refer to the data. (See 6.2 below)
Access Conditions
If Yes
 Do you have a reference number or citation for the
publication?
 Any other details about the publication available?
If data is already accessible in a durable published form, we
might just link to it rather than ingest it. This might make
some later questions redundant.
Identifiers /
Reference
Numbers
If No
Have you considered publishing the data in a repository or
data archive?
6. How this data relates to other materials
6.1 What other data collections and projects, if any, are related to this data collection?
Record DOIs (or other form of permanent identifiers). If not available, textual equivalent.
Would you have used the same data for more than one project? If yes, please record project details.
Related
Information – Data
Collections
6.2 What publications, if any, are associated with this data collection?
This is about publications that refer to the data or arose from analysis of this data.
An example would be a journal article that includes findings that refer to the raw data.
Related
Information –
Publications
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November 2010
6.3 Can you suggest other people, projects, organisations or information associated with the data that we have not already
covered?
Information gathered will form the basis of Parties and Activities records. Record names of any other projects associated
with the data.
Related
Information –
Parties and
Activities
7. Providing access to the data
For this project, data does not have to be publicly available for a collections record to be registered on Research Data Australia. It is possible to link
to data that is access-controlled.
Draft wording
The collection record will have some kind of Access statement that indicates that the owner/manager of this data collection may provide access to
this data collection by negotiation and that a re-user could be required to indicate their intended use of the data, to meet any costs associated with
providing access to the data, and to fulfil other terms and conditions as determined by the data owner/manage and also that use of the data may be
subject to legal, ethical and commercial restrictions, requiring further permission from other individuals or groups, including ethics committees,
project steering groups, and research participants.
These options include:
(i) Storing your data securely in a repository or data store and providing open access via a link. This option is good if you want to provide the
broadest possible access to your data and there are no legal, ethical or commercial barriers to your doing so.
(ii) Storing your data securely in a repository or data store and providing controlled access e.g. through use of a password. You might
want to consider this option if you can only make your data available to a certain set of people (e.g. those that worked on the project) but would still
like to let other people know that the data exists.
(iii) Having researchers contact you (or someone else that you authorise) directly to arrange access to the data. This option might work for
you if you are concerned about the way that your data might be used or if you would like to provide further context that would help someone to
interpret the data. This option can also be used in cases where re-use is allowed but requires approval from a project steering group or human
ethics committee.
7.1 What mode/s of access do you think might be most appropriate for this data?
Choose forn the options above or indicate any other preference.
Access Conditions
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November 2010
8. Restricting access to the data
Legal requirements, ethics protocols and commercial arrangements sometimes mean access to data needs to be restricted. We would like to clarify
some of these things with you, but there may well be things that we will need to consult you further about since this is a complicated area.
8.1 Who owns the copyright / IP?
 Any country other than Australia involved?
 Agreement in place that covers copyright / IP? e.g. funding agreement, contract, memorandum of understanding or
collaboration agreement.
 If nothing in writing otherwise, Monash IP Framework can probably be applied?
Likely to require a fairly open discussion around these topics.
Copyright /
Ownership
8.2 Are there any ethical requirements that mean access to the data is restricted?
 Privacy and personal information – are subjects anonymous, potentially identifiable, definitely identifiable?
 Confidentiality and consent – what level of disclosure of personal information did participants agree to?
 Cultural sensitivities e.g. indigenous participants.
 Any other ethical issues?
Likely to require a fairly open discussion around these topics. There may be a requirement to make sure a reference to
original ethics documentation exists.
Ethics
8.3 Are there any commercial restrictions on access to the data?
 Relates to an invention that might involve a patent?
 Might otherwise involve commercialisation?
 Agreement in place with a commercial partner, e.g. funding agreement, contract, memorandum of understanding or
collaboration agreement?
 Are embargoes in place for a limited time period?
 If nothing in writing otherwise, Monash policies can probably be applied.
Likely to require a fairly open discussion around these topics.
Commercialisation
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9. Re-use
9.1 If the data was able to be shared, what types of re-use do you think would be most appropriate for this data?
 All rights reserved – private research and study only, fair use, any other use requires contact for permission
 No rights reserved – the data can go into the public domain
 Some rights reserved
 Open licenses such as Creative Commons can give others broader permission given to copy / distribute / display
subject to certain conditions. Licences include:
 Attribution / credit required
 Non-commercial use only
 No derivatives allowed, only exact copies
 Derivatives allowed, but only with same licence conditions (‘Share-Alike’)
Re-use,
Reproduction,
Copying, Licensing
URL for Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org.au/
10. Further Information
10.1 Information not covered above:
Our questions were prompts for the kinds of questions researchers need to think about and ask.
They also form the basis of a metadata record.
Record anything else here with these two aims in mind.
10.2 Do you know anyone else who has a data collection and would like to talk to us?
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10.3 Questions about follow up at end of interview
We’ll take the information you’ve provided today and write a summary of our findings. When we have created the metadata record in Research
Data Australia, would you like us to send you the link?
Would you like to receive any information on data management services within Monash?
Yes / No
10.4 Pilot only
As this interview was part of the pilot stage of our project, we’re keen to get your feedback on the issues we covered in the interview and the way
the interview was structured and administered. We’d like to do this by ringing you in a few days, to ask you 6 to7 questions about today’s interview.
Would you be prepared to do that?
Yes / No
Thank you again for your time.
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November 2010