Planning for Research Data Management26th January 2016

Isabel Chadwick, Research Data Management Librarianlibrary-research-support@open.ac.uk

Overview of session

• What is Research Data Management?• Why bother?• Data Management Planning: step-by-step• Questions

with a little help from my friends...

What is Research Data Management?

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

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/life-cycle

Why bother?

Or even worse...

Good data management...• Helps you work more

efficiently and effectively– Save time and reduce

frustration– Highlight patterns or

connections that might otherwise be missed

• Enable data re-use and sharing

• Allow you to meet funders’ and institutional requirements

Benefits of data sharing...

OU Principles of Research Data Management

“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 2013http://intranet.open.ac.uk/research-school/strategy-info-governance/docs/CoPamendedJuly2013mergedwithappendix-forintranet.pdf

Data Management Planning

• 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!

Data Management Plans are useful whenever you are creating data to:

Data Management PlanningDMPOnline

https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk

A web-based tool to help you write DMPs according to different requirements. DCC, funder and OU guidance.

The rest of the session...

“Write a paragraph on the aim and purpose of your research.”

1. Introduction and Context

1. Introduction and Context

• Describe your research• What type of data do you work with?

1. Introduction and Context

“Describe the data aspects of your research, how you will capture/generate them, the file formats you are using and why. Mention how metadata will be created to describe the data, and your reasons for choosing particular data standards and approaches.”

2. Data types, formats, standards and capture methods

2. Data types, formats, standards and capture methods

2. Data types, formats, standards and capture methods

Metadata tips:•Use disciplinary standards•Create a data file•Use file properties•Use functions in data analysis software, e.g. NVIVO, R, SPSS, Electronic Lab Notebooks

2. Data types, formats, standards and capture methods

“Detail any ethical and privacy issues, including the consent of participants. Explain the copyright/IPR and whether there are any data licensing issues – either for data you are reusing, or your data which you will make available to others.”

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

Sharing sensitive data:•Gain consent•Anonymise•Restrict access•Lock down (with justification)

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property:•Secondary data use•Understanding open licences•Who owns IP of your data?

3. Ethics and Intellectual Property

“Note who would be interested in your data, and describe how you will make them available (with any restrictions). Detail any reasons not to share, as well as embargo periods or if you want time to exploit your data for publishing.”

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

Licensing your data

OU Data Catalogue in OROData access statements

Online data sharing services•Figshare•Zenodo•CKAN DataHub•Mendeley Data

Directories•re3data

Funders’ repository services•UK Data Service ReShare•NERC data centres

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

4. Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

“Give a rough idea of data volume. Say where and on what media you will store data, and how they will be backed-up. Mention security measures to protect data which are sensitive or valuable.”

5. Short-term storage and data management

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

• Follow the 3-2-1 rule:• 3 copies• At least 2 formats• 1 offsite

• Shared areas or SharePoint• Zendto• Be wary of Dropbox & similar• OU collaboration tool in pipeline

IT support for research: http://intranet6.open.ac.uk/library/main/supporting-ou-research/research-data-management/creating-your-data

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

• Thinking ahead will help when you need to share/archive your data

• Define processes at project start. • Think about:

– File naming and versioning– File directory structure– Metadata – File formats– Quality assurance– Data security

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

5. Short-term Storage and Data Management

“Consider what data are worth selecting for long-term access and preservation and how you will need to prepare those data for archiving. Say where you intend to deposit the data.”

6. Deposit and long-term preservation

6. Deposit and long-term preservationDeciding what to keep:•Raw data

•Derived data

•Data underpinning publications

•Code

•Methods

What are research data in your context?What would others need to understand your research?

6. Deposit and long-term preservation

To allow long-term access to data:•Don't use obscure formats•Don't use obscure media•Don't rely on technology being available•Provide sufficient documentation

For preservation, file formats should be…•Unencrypted•Uncompressed•Non-proprietary/patent-encumbered•Open, documented standard•Standard representation (ASCII, Unicode)

Type Recommended Avoid for data sharingTabular data CSV, TSV, SPSS portable Excel

Text Plain text, HTML, RTFPDF/A only if layout matters

Word

Media Container: MP4, OggCodec: Theora, Dirac, FLAC

QuicktimeH264

Images TIFF, JPEG2000, PNG GIF, JPG

Structured data XML, RDF RDBMS

Further examples: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/format/formats-table

6. Deposit and long-term preservation

• Metadata is additional information that is required to make sense of your files – it’s data about data.

Guidance on disciplinary metadata standards: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/metadata-standards

6. Deposit and long-term preservation

6. Deposit and long-term preservation

Library ServicesHow we can help• Data Management Plan checking • Support with setting up new projects • Advice on preparation of data for sharing• Data catalogue on ORO • Online guidance• Enquiries• Development of new tools to enable data management

and sharing

Email: library-research-support@open.ac.uk

Useful links• The OU Research Data Management intranet site:

http://intranet6.open.ac.uk/library/main/supporting-ou-research/research-data-management

• VRE: http://www.open.ac.uk/students/research/activities/lists/organising-your-research

• 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

Reflectionand

Questions

Image credits

Other cartoons from the Research Data Alliance 4th Plenary, Amsterdam 2014: https://rd-alliance.org/plenary-meetings/fourth-plenary/plenary-cartoons.html (CC-BY)

BASF (2007) Crop Design – the fine art of gene discovery, https://www.flickr.com/photos/basf/4837267013 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Jay Oliver (2005) UGA research in Tifton, GA. June 2005, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugacommunications/6254516052 (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Teddy-rised (2008) Making every litter count, https://www.flickr.com/photos/teddy-rised/2947952302 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Stan Leary (2009) University of Georgia Griffin Campus:Research, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugacommunications/6254368548 (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Morten Oddvik (2011) Papers, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mortsan/5430418545 (CC BY 2.0)

Lars Rosengreen (2012) Using a GoPro camera to collect data on pollinators, https://www.flickr.com/photos/46369606@N04/7543827396/ (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Casldlyrose (2009) Be Prepared https://www.flickr.com/photos/calsidyrose/3552473207 (CC-BY 2.0)

Caleb Roenigk (2012) Writing? Yeah. https://www.flickr.com/photos/crdot/6855538268/ (CC-BY 2.0)

Jamie Henderson (2010) Day 22 https://www.flickr.com/photos/xelcise/4296734826 (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

PHDComics.com (2007) http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=814 (CC-BY 2.0)

Sybren Stuvel (2008) Frustration https://www.flickr.com/photos/sybrenstuvel (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Brian Yap (2012) Blowing Questions https://www.flickr.com/photos/sybrenstuvel (CC-BY-NC 2.0)