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Research Services
Introduction to research data management
Slides provided by DaMaRO Project, University of Oxford
Research Services
WHAT IS RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT?
Introduction to research data management Page 2
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What is data?
“A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.”
Digital Curation Centre
Introduction to research data management Page 3
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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What is data?
Any information you use in your research
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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In small groups…
Introduce yourself What sort of data do you use? Where does it come from?
Are you creating new data?
Are you working with pre-existing data? Where is your data stored?
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What is data management?
Data management is a general term covering how you organize, structure, store, and care for the information used or generated during a research project
It includes:
How you deal with information on a day-to-day basis over the lifetime of a project
What happens to data in the longer term – what you do with it after the project concludes
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Why spend time and effort on this?
So you can work efficiently and effectively Save time and reduce frustration
Highlight patterns or connections that might otherwise be missed
Because your data is precious To enable data re-use and sharing To meet funders’ and institutional requirements
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University of Oxford policy
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Introduced July 2012
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University of Oxford policy
The full policy can be viewed on the University of Oxford Research Data Management website
Research data is the information needed ‘to support or validate a research project’s observations, findings or outputs’
Research data should be: Accurate, complete, identifiable, retrievable, and
securely stored Able to be made available to others
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University of Oxford policy
Research data should be retained for ‘as long as they are of continuing value to the researcher and the wider research community’ – but a minimum of three years
Specific requirements from funders take precedence
Researchers are responsible for: Developing and documenting clear data management procedures Planning for the ongoing custodianship of their data Ensuring that legal, ethical, and funding body requirements are met
Policy applies to University staff and doctoral students Depositing relevant research data may ultimately become a condition
of award for doctorates
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Funders’ requirements
Funding bodies are taking an increasing interest in what happens to research data
You may be required to make your data publicly available at the end of a project
Check the small print in your grant conditions Many funders require a data management plan
as part of grant applications Oxford’s RDM website provides a
summary of requirements
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DAY-TO-DAY DATA MANAGEMENT
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‘What a mess’ by .pst, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psteichen/3915657914/.
Can you find what you need, when you need it?
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Questions to ask
Are you using the most appropriate software or other tools to store and analyse your data?
Do you have a system in place for dealing with new data when you acquire it?
If so, is it realistic? Are you recording all the necessary contextual
information? Are you using helpful, consistent file naming
conventions? Is your file structure clear?
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File naming
Aim for concise but informative names Ideally, you should be able to tell what’s in a file
without opening it Think about the ordering of elements within a
filename YYYY-MM-DD dates allow chronological sorting
You can force an order by adding a number at the beginning of the name
Consider including version information
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File naming strategies – examples
Order by date:
2013-04-12_interview-recording_THD.mp3
2013-04-12_interview-transcript_THD.docx
2012-12-15_interview-recording_MBD.mp3
2012-12-15_interview-transcript_MBD.docx
Order by subject:
MBD_interview-recording_2012-12-15.mp3
MBD_interview-transcript_2012-12-15.docx
THD_interview-recording_2013-04-12.mp3
THD_interview-transcript_2013-04-12.docx
Order by type:
Interview-recording_MBD_2012-12-15.mp3
Interview-recording_THD_2013-04-12.mp3
Interview-transcript_MBD_2012-12-15.docx
Interview-transcript_THD_2013-04-12.docx
Forced order with numbering:
01_THD_interview-recording_2013-04-12.mp3
02_THD_interview-transcript_2013-04-12.docx
03_MBD_interview-recording_2012-12-15.mp3
04_MBD_interview-transcript_2012-12-15.docx
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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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Research Skills Toolkit
Website and hands-on workshops
A guide to software, University services, and other tools and resources for research
Requires SSO login
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http://www.skillstoolkit.ox.ac.uk/
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IT Learning Programme
Over 200 different IT courses
Covering software, skills, and new technologies
ITLP Portfolio offers course materials and other resources
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http://portfolio.it.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/
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ORDS – Online Research Database Service
Specifically designed for academic research data Cloud-hosted and automatically backed up Web interface makes collaboration straightforward If desired, databases can easily be made public Designed to permit easy archiving Currently recruiting early adopters –
free use of system in return for feedback
Contact [email protected]
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KEEPING YOUR DATA SAFE
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DON’T LET THIS BE
YOU!
http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/08/01/why-you-need-a-data-management-plan/
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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‘Fire’ by andrewmalone, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewmalone/2032844649/
What would happen to your data if there was a fire in your office, department or
home?
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Make multiple copies…
…and keep them in different places
Automate the process if you can
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Example back-up plan
Back-up strategy for a recent postdoc research project:
Working data stored on personal laptop
Weekly back-up to external hard drive, and to two memory sticks
Key files also sent as email attachments, or saved to Dropbox
Post-project, data copied to DVDs for long-term storage
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IT Services: Data Back-up on the HFS
HFS is Oxford’s central back-up and archiving service
Free of charge to University staff and postgraduates
Automated back-ups of machines connected to University network
Copies kept in multiple places
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Think about your storage media…
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… and about file formats
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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In small groups…
What data management challenges have you encountered?
What strategies have you personally found useful?
Be ready to feed back to the group
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DOCUMENTATION AND METADATA
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Documentation and metadata
Documentation is the contextual information required to make data intelligible and aid interpretation
A users’ guide to your data
Metadata is similar, but usually more structured
Conforms to set standards
Machine readable
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Make material understandable
What’s obvious now might not be in a few months, years, decades…
Adapted from ‘Clay Tablets with Linear B Script’ by Dennis, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5692813531/
MAKE SURE YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND IT LATER
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Make material verifiable
• Detailing your methods helps people understand what you did
• And helps make your work reproducible
• Conclusions can be verified
Image by woodleywonderworks , via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4588700881/
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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You may wish to re-use your own data later on
Or you may wish to make it available for others to use
Provide context to minimize the risk of misunderstanding or misuse
Good metadata makes it easier to locate relevant data
Make material reusable
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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• Who created it, when and why
• Description of the item• Methodology and methods• Units of measurement• Definitions of jargon,
acronyms and code• References to related data
Documentation – what to include
?
M. F
arinelli et al. (2012) P
LoS O
NE
7(3): e34047
www.texample.net
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Metadata – data about data
A formal, structured description of a dataset
Used by archives to create catalogue records
Page 34
Introduction to research data management
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Missing metadata – or the riddle of the sixth toe
This painting shows Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire as Diana
… or Cynthia She has six toes – but
no one knows why
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Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georgiana_Cavendish,_Duchess_of_Devonshire_as_Diana.jpg
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WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE PROJECT?
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Data archiving
Data generated during a research project is valuable
Don’t leave it languishing on your hard drive Consider depositing it in an archive or repository
A number of national disciplinary archives exist
DataBib provides a catalogue: http://databib.org/
Oxford will soon have its own data archive If possible, make it available for others to re-use
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Why share data? Reputation
Get credit for high quality research
Recognition for contribution to research community
Open data leads to increased citations
Of the data itself
Of associated papers
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Why share data? Reuse
Reduces duplication of effort
Allows public research funding to be used more effectively
Contexts not currently envisaged
Extend research beyond your discipline
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Why share data? Be a trailblazer!
A paradigm shift in how research outputs are viewed is occurring
Data outputs are of increasing importance – and are likely to become even more so Major journals are increasingly
looking to publish datasets alongside articles
Be at the forefront of an important shift in the academic world
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Video by NYU Health Sciences Libraries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2zK3sAtr-4
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Data sharing – concerns
Ethical concerns Confidential or sensitive data
Legal concerns Third party data
Professional concerns Intended publication
Commercial issues (e.g. patent protection)
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EMBARG
OE
D
• Redact or embargo if there is good reason• Planning ahead can reduce difficulties
Data sharing – concerns
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Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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Data licensing
A licence clarifies the conditions for accessing and making use of a dataset
User knows what’s allowed without asking further permission
Doesn’t exclude possibility of specific requests to go beyond the terms of the licence
For databases, structure and content may be covered by separate rights
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Data licences - examples
Creative Common licences Widely used and recognized
Six different flavours, plus CC0 public domain dedication
http://creativecommons.org/ Open Data Commons
Specifically designed for datasets
Recognizes the structure/content distinction
http://opendatacommons.org/
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Data licensing - guidance
‘How to License Research Data’ A guide from the Digital Curation Centre
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http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data
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DATA MANAGEMENT PLANNING
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Data management plans
A document which may be created in the early stages of a project
While planning, applying for funding, or setting up
An initial plan may be expanded later Details plans and expectations for data
Nature of data and its creation or acquisition
Storage and security
Preservation and sharing
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Exercise
Using the resources available, have a go at drafting a data management plan for your own research
If there are questions you can’t answer at this stage, make a note of
What you need to find out
Decisions you need to make
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Digital Curation Centre
A national service providing advice and resources
Create a data management plan using the DMP online tool
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https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/
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‘In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.’
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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UNIVERSITY SERVICES
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DataBank and DataFinder
Two new University of Oxford services Scheduled to launch later in 2013
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DataBank
University of Oxford’s institutional data archive Long term preservation for datasets without another
natural home In some cases, may a suitable home for DPhil data
Datasets will be assigned DOIs Will work alongside ORA, the University archive for
research publications Possible to link publications in ORA to datasets in DataBank
Depositors can opt to make datasets publicly available, embargoed for a fixed period, or hidden
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DataFinder
A catalogue of datasets Information on the nature, location, and availability of the data
Will harvest metadata from DataBank and other compatible data stores
So anything in DataBank will have a record in DataFinder
Researchers depositing data elsewhere strongly encouraged to add a record to DataFinder
Should provide a substantial resource for researchers seeking datasets for reuse
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FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
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Research data management website
Oxford’s central advisory website
Covers data management planning, back-up and security, data sharing and archiving, funder requirements, etc.
University policy is available
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http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/rdm/
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IT Services: Support for Research
Can assist with technical aspects of research projects at all stages of the project lifecycle
But the earlier you seek advice, the better Includes the DaMaRO (Data Management
Rollout at Oxford) Project For more information, email
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Research Data MANTRA
Free online interactive training modules
Aimed at postgraduates and early career researchers
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http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/
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Any questions?
Ask now, or email us [email protected]
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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
With the exception of clip art used with permission from Microsoft, the slideshow is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License
Parts of this slideshow draw on teaching materials produced by the PrePARe Project, DATUM for Health, and DataTrain Archaeology
Within the terms of this licence, we actively encourage sharing, adaptation, and re-use of this material
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