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Introduction to research data management- a physical science case study

Slides provided by DaMaRO Project, University of Oxford

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The researcher

Dr Richard Goulden, a British Heart Foundation funded postdoc in the Department of Chemistry

Working with Chemical Biology and Analytical Chemistry research groups

Uses analytical chemistry methods to study biological molecules related to diseases

Involves using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study a family of enzymes called the 2-oxoglutarate (2OG) oxygenase

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The dataset

Data collected using Bruker NMR instruments Raw data stored in the Bruker data format Analysed using Bruker TopSpin software or CCPNmr

Analysis software Analysed data stored in Excel spreadsheets (for

quantitative studies) and PowerPoint files (for qualitative studies)

Most analysed data also stored in printed format in lab books

Roughly 50 GB of data generated in the last year

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Storage and back-up strategy

Raw data from the NMR instruments are stored on the instrument PC, which is backed up every couple of months to DVDs

Much raw data also transferred to desktop computers – usually stored on external hard drives

Analysed data (e.g. Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint files) are stored in a shared folder on a departmental server which is backed up daily

Lab books are stored inside the laboratory in locked cupboards

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File naming strategies

Order by date:

2013-04-12_analysis_ASPH.xlsx

2013-04-12_raw-data_ASPH.txt

2012-12-15_analysis_JARID1A.xlsx

2012-12-15_raw-data_JARID1A.txt

Order by subject:

ASPH_analysis_2012-12-15.xlsx

ASPH_raw-data_2012-12-15.txt

JARID1A_analysis_2013-04-12.xlsx

JARID1A_raw-data_2013-04-12.txt

Order by type:

Analysis_ASPH_2012-12-15.xlsx

Analysis_JARID1A_2013-04-12.xlsx

Raw-data_ASPH_2012-12-15.txt

Raw-data_JARID1A_2013-04-12.txt

Forced order with numbering:

01_JARID1A_raw-data_2013-04-12.txt

02_JARID1A_analysis_2013-04-12.xlsx

03_ASPH_raw-data_2012-12-15.txt

04_ASPH_analysis_2012-12-15.xlsx

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File naming strategies

In retrospect I am not very happy with the method I used for naming files. The biggest problem was with the newspaper articles I downloaded… I named the files only based on the topic of the article, without mentioning the name of the periodical and the year of publication, which would have been very useful later, when I began writing the thesis.

– Doctoral student researching communication history

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Metadata – data about data

A formal, structured description of a dataset

Used by archives to create catalogue records

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Data preservation and sharing plan

Analysed data available to everyone in research group via shared folder

Data relating to journal papers included as supplemental information (e.g. in table format)

Researcher is also an active Wikipedia contributor, and updates relevant articles once findings are published  

Data will be ultimately be deposited in the BMRB (Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank)

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Rights and re-use

This slideshow is part of a series of research data management training resources prepared by the DaMaRO Project at the University of Oxford

It is based on information about real research projects provided by the academics who worked on them – though all names have been changed, and case studies may have been edited, amplified, or combined

The slideshow is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License

Within the terms of this licence, we actively encourage sharing, adaptation, and re-use of this material