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An Introduction to Research Data Management Things To Do With Data – Michaelmas 2014. Slides provided by Research Support Team, IT Services, University of Oxford. What does data include?. Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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An Introduction to Research Data Management Things To Do With Data – Michaelmas 2014
Slides provided by Research Support Team, IT Services, University of Oxford
What does data include?
“A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.”
Digital Curation Centre
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
What does data include?
Any information you use in your research
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
What does research data management cover?
Storage
Organizing
Preservation
Documenting
Sharing
Choosing technology
Versioning
Structuring
Backing up
Curation
Security
Relevant throughout the research process
Planning and
applying for funding
Setting up and
starting work
Day-to-day work
during the project
Project conclusion
Carrots and sticks
Enable efficient day-to-day work
More time for the meat of the research process
Avoid problems in the future
University of Oxford Policy on the Management of Research Data and Records
Funding body requirements
University of Oxford policy
Introduced July 2012
University of Oxford policy
The full policy can be viewed on the Research Data Oxford website
Research data is defined as 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
Funders’ requirements
Funding bodies are taking an increasing interest in what happens to research data
You may be required to make data publicly available at the end of a project
Many funders require a data management plan as part of grant applications
RDO website provides a summary of requirements
Planning and
applying for
funding
Setting up and
starting work
Day-to-day work
during the project
Project conclusion
Data management plans
A document created early on in 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
Benefits of data management plans
Ask key questions before problems arise Have time to look for solutions
Saves time and reduces stress Many tasks are straightforward if planned from
the beginning, but much harder in retrospect A framework for ongoing review of data
management practices
DMP Online
Online data management planning tool
Can be customized according to funding body
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
Planning and
applying for funding
Setting up and starting
work
Day-to-day work
during the project
Project conclusion
What storage media are in use?
How about file formats?
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
Storage
Departmental IT support may be able to provide server space or a shared drive
IT Services’ NSMS offers server rental and management, storage on the University’s private cloud, and other storage solutions
Data security
Is there data that needs special treatment?
Sensitive or confidential information
Commercial potential InfoSec at IT Services can provide advice –
see http://www.it.ox.ac.uk/infosec/ for more details
http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/08/01/why-you-need-a-data-management-plan/
Backing up is easier than replacing lost data…
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
LOCKSS – Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe
Keep copies in different places
Can the process be automated?
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
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
Choosing the right tools for the job
Are current software and methods meeting your needs?
Sticking with old familiars can be false economy
Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations
Tools and technologies for managing data
Spreadsheets may be fine for small, straightforward tasks
More complex projects might benefit from a relational database
Microsoft Access, FileMaker Pro, etc. Or a qualitative data analysis package
Nvivo, Atlas.ti, etc. Or an XML database...
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 Launched in the summer of 2014 http://ords.ox.ac.uk/
Other data management tools and systems
LabTrove – an electronic lab notebook system NeuroHub – an information environment for
managing data from lab-based research DataStage – a secure personalized file
management environment myExperiment – record and
share scientific workflows Taverna – for managing
scientific workflows
Research Skills Toolkit
Website and hands-on workshops
A guide to software, University services, and other tools and resources for research
http://www.skillstoolkit.ox.ac.uk/
Planning and
applying for funding
Setting up and
starting work
Day-to-day
work during
the project
Project conclusion
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
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
Documentation and metadata
Documentation is the contextual information required to make data intelligible and aid interpretation
A users’ guide to data
May be given at study level or data level
Metadata is similar, but usually more structured
Conforms to set standards
Machine readable<tit
le>2014
HBS Surv
ey
Results<
/title>
<author>
Joe Blog
gs
</author
>
M. F
arinelli et al. (2012) P
LoS O
NE
7(3): e34047
• Who created the data, 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 needs to be included
?www.texample.net
Slide adapted from the PrePARe Project
Maintaining consistency
Agree a set of standard working practices as early as possible in a project
Method of recording what’s been done to data – and who did it
File naming conventions
Version information Have these clearly documented, and
store the documentation centrally
Planning and
applying for funding
Setting up and
starting work
Day-to-day work during the
project
Project conclusion
Long term solutions
Data repositories or archives offer a secure long-term home for research data
Data can be embargoed if needed Databib and Re3Data.org offer searchable
catalogues of repositories Figshare offers a DIY option
ORA-Data (formerly known as DataBank)
University of Oxford’s institutional data archive Will work alongside ORA-Publications to form a
composite University archive Long term preservation for datasets without
another natural home Plus records for data
archived elsewhere
Planning ahead
Data sharing needs to be planned from the beginning of a project
With sensitive data, consent may be needed
Third party data may come with restrictions If data is destined for a particular archive, they
may have specific requirements
Do they use a specific metadata schema, for example?
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
Licences used for data include Creative Commons and Open Data Commons
Further resources
Digital Curation Centre
A national service providing advice and resources for the whole research data lifecycle
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/
UK Data Archive
Largest UK collection of social sciences and humanities data
Advice on best practice for creating, preparing, storing and sharing data
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
IT Services: Research Support Team
Can assist with technical aspects of research projects at all stages of the project lifecycle
Help with DMPs, selecting software or storage, modelling data, etc.
But the earlier you seek advice, the better For more information, see: http
://research.it.ox.ac.uk/
Research Data Oxford website
Oxford’s central advisory website
University policy is available
Questions? Email [email protected]
http://researchdata.ox.ac.uk/
Rights and re-use
This presentation is part of a series of research data management training resources prepared by the Research Support Team at IT Services, University of Oxford.
Parts of this slideshow draw on material produced as part of the Oxford-based DaMaRO Project, and on resources produced by the PrePARe Project
With the exception of clip art used with permission from Microsoft, and commercial logos and trademarks, and images specifically credited to other sources, 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
