Assessment of GRAD521
Research Data Management
Open-ended responses from student evaluations
Winter 2014
Weeks 1 – 4
Topics covered: Overview of research data management (importance, funding context, research/data lifecycle) Data organization (folder-­‐ and file-­‐naming, folder hierarchies, documenting data / notebook) Data management planning for your project Data Curation Profiles Data storage, backup and security Version control (guest speaker) Q. What lecture content, discussion or learning activities did you like best in the month's
sessions? Why?
1. Good to get a better understanding of what is involved in a GIT/GITHUB though I am not sure I understand how to use it in my project. 2. File naming protocol 3. Data storage, backup, and security. I marked this lowest in the sections above, not because I thought it was covered poorly, but because I would have liked to have more. 4. Data storage and security. 5. Lectures and in class-­‐ activities because I can use the notes for later reference. The class activities are useful and keep me engage in class. 6. organizing data-­‐ was very practical/useful 7. The in-­‐class activity where we incorporated our data sets if we were currently working on them. This forced me to think about my data and how to express it on a notecard. 8. I felt like I gained the most from the section on version control, because I felt like seeing you demonstrate the software was helpful and it felt like a very tangible skill. 9. I liked hearing about other people's data, their woes, and successes. As we develop our own plans, it is nice to hear how others are doing and learn different ways of approaching things. 10. I really did not have a favorite, everything we discussed was useful and informative. Q. What lecture content, discussion or learning activities did you like least in the month's
sessions? Why?
1. I am still not sure that the Data Curation Profile helps the actual researcher that much, but I can see how it is useful for librarians. I think that the questions get directed to one person, the subject of the interview, but the answers may come from several people within a project or a department. 2. Life cycle/stages and dcp; didn't seem relevant and in going over the dcp interview with faculty and a phd candidate friend, this was an unknown concept. Not sure if it is discipline specific or just too new for non-­‐library folks to know about. Assessment for GRAD 521: Research Data Management | Winter 2014 | Text Responses | Page 1 of 5 3. Data curation profiles. I'm still not quite sure I understand what they are for and about. I am using it as an opportunity to learn of the data and research practices of someone doing different research from my own, and so I am OK with it. 4. Group functions. 5. I don't have any comments. I have enjoyed the class so far. 6. data curation profile-­‐ did not find this relevant/useful 7. None, I am new to data management so I saw this class as an opportunity to improve my own practices. 8. Some of the sections on data-­‐sharing and repositories were not particularly applicable to my field of research. 9. All seemed valuable, though some parts are redundant. Perhaps, the two lectures each week could be condensed into one session... 10. There was not anything in particular that I liked least. The version control lecture with the guest speaker fellow, John (?), was a bit confusing but still useful information. Q. What would be the single most significant improvement in the content or hands-on
elements of the first 4 weeks of sessions to help you better understand data management
concepts and manage research data?
1. How to best incorporate changes, improvements to data over the life of a project. I guess this is somewhat similar to version control but also has elements of data history tracking. 2. Have two separate classes for social and natural sciences. Apply it more in real world examples. 3. Sorry. I don't really have any suggestions. It was fine with me. The topics were good and they were covered well. 4. I think Dr. Whitmire is very organized. I would not change anything. 5. perhaps developing our own data management plan as we cover the material in class would be useful because we can ask questions about it as we work on it. 6. more discussion of datasets that classmates are working with, these real world examples make it easier to relate to the class materials 7. I think having a day in which we bring in our data set (if possible) and be able to incorporate some of the concepts we talked about in class with management, naming, security, etc. 8. I think the class would have benefited additional examples from real research projects and their approaches to the topic. 9. I think having regular feedback on the assignments would be good so that information is still when/if assignments are returned. 10. More hands-­‐on would be cool but I don't feel like I know how to direct that idea. Q. What questions do you still have related to data management that the first 4 weeks of
sessions could address?
1. I still feel I have lots to learn about creating a data manegement plan at the start of a project -­‐ how to conceptualize the data well enough in advance to generate a plan, how specific does it need to be? 2. I still have confusion about dcps and life cycles/stages of data. Confused too about how sharing works with sensitive data. 3. I don't have any specific questions. Generally I liked the topics that were covered and it was interesting to see them covered in a general way that covered fields of research outside of my own. 4. None. 5. none Assessment for GRAD 521: Research Data Management | Winter 2014 | Text Responses | Page 2 of 5 6. None at the moment 7. I am still not entirely clear on how to manage a "lab notebook" in a field where the majority of data is secondary. 8. How does one find the data management requirements for their research...in the event that their advisor does not know? 9. I came into this class with not a great deal of data management knowledge so I learned so much. Q. Feel free to add any more thoughts, suggestions, or ideas (not required).
1. Definitely getting some good ideas, sorry the snow canceled the metadata tools class. 2. The class is what I hoped it would be and that's a good thing. Not everything is pertinent to me or of high interest, but but I didn't expect that. 3. class often runs over time 4. I will keep you posted if I have any ideas or suggestions. 5. I am still hoping we get the chance to test out the metadata software in the lab. Weeks 5 – 9
Topics covered: Metadata Legal & ethical considerations for research data (human subjects & intellectual property) Data sharing (funding requirements, data identifiers, ORCID IDs, sharing platforms) Data preservation & archiving Q. What lecture content, discussion or learning activities did you like best in the month's
sessions? Why?
1. I like the laboratory activities. very useful. 2. Dr. Whimire is very organized and is a great lecturer. 3. The in-­‐class activity about data sharing-­‐ lego activity. Helped to understand more the value and importance of standard protocols for data managment, sharing and storage. 4. I liked the active laboratory sections. 5. metadata because it is relevant to everyone and interesting to see how different disciplines generate metadata 6. I like the IRB material because it was very applicable to all areas and necessary. 7. The class activity where we had groups create legos of established figures. It gave us an idea of the important of communication and how different messages effect how data is interpreted. 8. Metadata issues because it's what I struggle with the most. 9. I liked the second computer lab, looking at datasets already available through the various repositories. 10. Data repositories. I really needed to learn more about them. 11. I felt like the section on the backup and archival process, especially checksums, was very useful. Data degradation and writing errors were not something I was aware of previously. Q. What lecture content, discussion or learning activities did you like least in the month's
sessions? Why?
1. I like them all 2. The lab was not very good. Gave no guidance an how to look things up. My computer did not work. Assessment for GRAD 521: Research Data Management | Winter 2014 | Text Responses | Page 3 of 5 3. The archival process I found confusing and didn't really retain much from the guest lecture. This is all new information to me and many others. Considering this is content that does not get discussed among students and researchers, even while working on research with senior researchers. I feel like some of this stuff would have been better for a later class, perhaps a second part after taking an intro. It would have been more helpful to actually DO the archiving, or see it done. The lecture was not helpful 4. I leked them all 5. patent/ copyright/legal issues because it is not relevant to my work 6. Some activities were more specific to bench science which is not my area and hard to relate to. 7. n/a 8. Long term data management because it's something I'm not involved with. 9. the metadata lab was a little confusing and didnt seem terribly helpful. 10. Maybe metadata. I have already looked into this topic in some detail and found the discussions too general. But I recognize that perhaps what would have been optimal for me might not have worked so well for some of the other students. 11. I felt like the lego exercise, while engaging, could have been better tied to topics we had covered. Q. Do you feel that the guest speakers contributed to the quality of the course, or would you
prefer more structured lecture time on the topics covered? Feel free to address topics
individually (IRB, intellectual property, data sharing, etc.). Your comments will not be
shared with the guest speakers; I just want to know if the guest-speaker approach was
successful or not.
1. The guest speakers were a great experience. It was interesting to hear examples from the speakers experiences. 2. Guest speakers were great. Unfortunately the lab was not good. 3. The IRB lecture, yes, because I was familiar with this content matter. T he male lecturer who went over checksum-­‐ I am still lost with that stuff, that lecture just left me confused. The lecture from the woman who did the lego activity was very helpful. 4. yes, it was very useful to have an expert tome to class and hear their own perspective regarding copy rights etc. 5. IRB and data sharing was useful, intellectual property was not 6. I really enjoyed the guest speakers and the topics they shared. 7. I liked having the guest speakers share about their area of expertise. 8. The data sharing lecture was good. the activity made it very clear how hard it can be to interpret other people's data. 9. I enjoyed the patent lecture... not that I can imagine ever applying for a patent for my work, but still it was interesting. It is too bad you weren't there for the metadata lab with Maura. It would have helped to have someone with experience actually doing science projects. It seemed her knowledge was mostly theoretical and not that of someone who has actually been in the trenches. I'll give Sue Kunda an "A" for creativity. Her exercise was fun. I'm not sure how enlightening it was for me. 10. The IRB lecture was very helpful, especially considering my focus in human research. The Intellectual property lecture was not very helpful, and the lecturer seemed more interested in talking about business development and logistics than making the topic applicable to the course. Q. What would be the single most significant improvement in the content or hands-on
elements of the weeks 5-9 of sessions to help you better understand data management
concepts and manage research data?
Assessment for GRAD 521: Research Data Management | Winter 2014 | Text Responses | Page 4 of 5 1. Spend more time on hand on activities such as the lab. I feel like an extra day in the lab would be useful for questions. 2. Improve the lab. 3. Use a real research project and apply it throughout the course. Considering that researchers on this institution are not using this type of standard process, this content is so incredibly unfamiliar to many of us. This course was helpful to introduce this practice of proper data management, but did not provide enough incentive for me to feel like I would be following these standard guidelines if my PI is not using them. I feel like this content to a researcher is like expecting a vehicle owner to be able to change the oil and do repairs on their car. Why would I do that when I can take my car to the mechanic-­‐ just as why do this with my research when I can take it to a librarian. 4. I found that when I related everything from class to my own project, it was easier to understand allow me to ask more questions. perhaps in the future student could begin to create their own metadata. 5. I'm not sure if literature that you use to support your project is considered a form of metadata, but would have liked some discussion of how to manage all those articles (maybe endnote, zotero, mendeley tools or informative naming, rating and organization of literature/files). This would have been more useful to me than the patent/legal issues. 6. It is hard to say, I can see the challenge incorporating everyone's area of concentration. I personally enjoyed the hands-­‐on elements the most. 7. Just knowing the areas in which data can be stored and shared. I was unaware of such resource prior to enrolling in the class. 8. Metadata information 9. I think maybe doing case studies with various datasets could be helpful. Similar to the second lab where we evaluated different datasets, but in a more structured format. This would allow us to see how others archive their data and ways to improve our own management techniques. 10. If it could somehow be targeted to our specific fields of study. Not sure what to suggest for doing that frankly, so this is not a harsh criticism by any stretch. 11. I think the guest lecturers were fantastic, but I wish they had been better vetted to fit the structure of the course. Q. What questions do you still have related to data management that weeks 5-9 sessions
could address (not required)?
1. I enjoyed the class. I got a lot out of the class. Lots of information was given and I was able to use a lot of the information. 2. No questions 3. I'm still not clear on metadata. How to do it. How to automate it. But the tools that would be most appropriate for me would not be appropriate for most people who were in the class. I probably need to take a course specifically on that topic.... and specific to my field (if that's possible). Q. Feel free to add any more thoughts, suggestions, or ideas (not required).
1. Dr. Whitmire is a good teacher. I enjoyed the class. 2. None, this is a very useful course and applies to anyone at any stage during their data collection and research. 3 Thanks for the great course! Assessment for GRAD 521: Research Data Management | Winter 2014 | Text Responses | Page 5 of 5