Helping researchers to share data Louise Corti, Veerle Van den Eynden Relu Data Support Service, UK Data Archive

Helping researchers to share data

Louise Corti, Veerle Van den EyndenRelu Data Support Service, UK Data Archive

UKDA Data sharing event, 13 March 2009 2

Rural Economy and Land Use Programme

• interdisciplinary research programme - social & natural / environmental sciences (2004-2011)

• 29 teams of social and natural scientists study contemporary challenges facing rural areas in the UK (food issues, flooding, land and water use, agriculture, plant/animal diseases,….)

• 300+ researchers, 40 research disciplines (economy, ecology, human geography, geography, hydrology, sociology,…)

• cross-research council funding, 24m (ESRC, NERC, BBSRC)


Relu Data Support Service (Relu-DSS)

• funded by Research Councils for life-time of Relu (2005-2011)

• UK Data Archive (ESRC) & Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (NERC) data centres

• oversee implementation of Relu data management policy (based on ESRC & NERC data policies and best practices across research councils)

– publicly-funded research data - valuable, long term resource

– data generated by Relu projects must be well managed

– data must be made available by researchers for archiving at the UKDA and CEH data centres


Pro-active Data Support

• support Relu researchers to manage research data well:

– web-based guidance: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/relu/ reluadvice.asp and http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/sharing

– interdisciplinary data management and sharing booklet– training workshops– project visits– Data Management Plans – review and advise

• address data managing and sharing from award application stage and throughout project

• help negotiate access to third party data

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/relu/reluadvice.asp



http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/sharing


Key data management themes

• quality control of data

• documenting and describing data

• suitable data formats and software, especially for long-term preservation

• authenticity and version control of data files

• backing-up data and files

• appropriate data storage, security and controlled access

• data confidentiality, consent and anonymisation


Promoting data sharing

• coordinate archiving and resource discovery of interdisciplinary data collections at UKDA and CEH data centres

• ensure easy access to archived data and interoperability of data centres

• Relu knowledge portal of datasets and research outputs:

– gateway with online access to data and outputs– free text search and browse by Relu theme, project status

and data type– metadata about datasets held at UKDA and CEH– research outputs harvested from ESRC Society Today

repository


Knowledge portal


Knowledge portal


Knowledge portal


Case study: The effects of scale in organic agricultureSigrid Stagl, University of Sussex, 1 Jan 2006 – 31 Dec 2009

“A move to organic farming can have significant effects on wildlife, soil and water quality, as well as changing the ways in which food is supplied, the economics of farm business and indeed the attitudes of farmers themselves. Two key questions are addressed in this research project: what causes organic farms to be arranged in clusters at local, regional and national scales, rather than be spread more evenly throughout the landscape; and how do the ecological, hydrological, socio-economic and cultural impacts of organic farming vary due to neighbourhood effects at a variety of scales”


Variety of datasets created:

• Qualitative interviews with farmers (MS-Word transcripts)

• Farm business survey data (MS-Excel): farm economic data from paired farms in various organic and conventional clusters over three years, studying formal and informal institutions influencing their farm management decisions and marketing decisions

• Ecological survey data (MS-Excel): field surveys of bird, pollinator, invertebrate and plant biodiversity on selected organic and non-organic farms and in surrounding landscapes

• Soil survey data (Ms-Excel): data on soil texture and structural condition, organic matter content, infiltration rate, water quality and hydrological conditions

• Integrated assessment group discussions (audio recorded): stakeholder group discussions of different scenarios for future growth of the organic sector in the UK, mapped by researchers based on the findings



Data support interactions with project researchers:

• Oct 2005 – Relu-DSS presentation on data managing and archiving at the Relu Call2 Principal Investigator induction meeting

• Aug 2006 – project data management plan reviewed and signed off by Relu-DSS

– issue raised – address consent for data sharing and archiving for farmer interviews

• Sept 2007 - all Relu researchers reminded to consult revised Relu-DSS website for data managing guidance

• Oct 2007 – S. Stagl requests help in sourcing and accessing spatial data on location and characteristics of organic farms - Relu-DSS points to data sources and access issues (confidentiality)



Data support interactions with project researchers (cont.):

• Jan 2008 – all Relu Call2 researchers are reminded to ensure informed consent for data sharing is discussed with interviewees

• Jan 2008 – Relu-DSS requests a team meeting to discuss data management and sharing (request repeated May 2008)

• June 2008 - Relu-DSS project visit– data management and archiving is discussed in detail with project

team– specific advise given applicable to the project’s data– researchers experience ‘erratic’ access to third party data; e.g.

DEFRA could not provide farm data due to confidentiality, yet certain data are on DEFRA website; organic producers data from Soil Association and Organic Farmers & Growers easily obtained

• June 2008 – researcher attends Relu-DSS workshop on enabling the sharing of confidential research data (consent, confidentiality, ethics)



Data management and archiving issues:

• farmer interviews: researcher considered data sharing upfront in consent form, and discussed this with farmers; all transcripts being anonymised and can therefore easily be archived.

• farm business survey data: confidentiality statement was sent to farmers prior to interviews, considering data use for current research only. Researchers thus need to discuss data archiving at a later stage with farmers and obtain consent to archive the data. This approach will give farmers a clearer idea of which data have been collected; how they may be anonymised and which part will be archived

• ecological and soil survey data: documenting and describing field survey data to enable data sharing / archiving was not considered by researchers from the start and may now take significant time and money which may not be feasible under the current budget (documentation thus not costed in and not planned from the start of research)



• All 3 data sources above - farmer interviews, farm business survey data, ecological and soil survey data - were obtained from the same farms. Any geo-references and identifying characteristics amongst environmental variables (providing essential research content to survey data) may therefore disclose the location of studied farms and farmers. This will need careful consideration when archiving data

• integrated assessment exercise: scenario group sessions tape-recorded but not transcribed, only summarised. Researchers to decide whether such summaries would add content to outputs (publications, reports), in which case they could be archived. If content is represented in publications then they would not be archived



• testing of a focused, funded and pro-active data management and sharing approach – ESRC + NERC models adapted

• Relu Prograqmme directors (Philip Lowe & Jeremy Phillipson, Newcastle University) and Relu Data Management Subgroup show ongoing dedication and support for management and sharing

• encouraging researchers to manage research data from the start of research with a view to sharing requires pro-active approach and diplomacy:

– not usually a priority for researchers– data management issues such as consent for data sharing and

documenting data easily ‘left for later’, often meaning ‘left too late’– data support perceived as extra red tape– much depends on researchers’ attitude and experience

Summary


• diverse Relu projects helping address data management, sharing and archiving issues across interdisciplinary boundaries

• pushing boundaries to link data discovery and access across disciplines and data centres

• model only works with DSS staff who speak fluently the researchers’ language and understand diverse data – i.e. are scientists - these individuals are rare and hard to find!

Summary cont.


Relu-DSS

www.data-archive.ac.uk/relu

Documents

Helping researchers to share data Louise Corti, Veerle Van den Eynden Relu Data Support Service, UK Data Archive