Creating a Data Management Plan

Kristin Briney, PhDData Services Librarian

This Session Will Answer

• Why am I being asked to create a DMP?• What are the key parts of a DMP?• How do I translate my research to each of

these parts?

You Will Leave With

• An understanding of the main parts of a data management plan

• Knowledge of where to find resources and assistance

Rough outline of your data management plan

WHY AM I BEING ASKED TO CREATE A DATA MANAGEMENT PLAN?

Why Data? Why Now?

• Data are DIGITAL– Easy to copy and share– Difficult to preserve

• Data are COMPUTABLE– New avenues of research like data mining

• Data represent a FINANCIAL INVESTMENT– Poor research funding climate– Can no longer ignore data as a scholarly product

Many Funders Require DMPs

• NSF• NEH• NIH• NOAA• NASA

• …even more funders will require DMPs soon!– White House OSTP Public Access memo

The Funder Perspective

• Data is a scholarly resource– Data sharing akin to scholarly publishing

• Barriers to sharing are– Organization– Documentation– Long-term management and preservation

Hence data management plans

DMPs Help You Too!

• Don’t loose data• Find data more easily• Easier to analyze organized, documented data• Avoid accusations of fraud & misconduct• Get credit for your data• Don’t drown in irrelevant data!

For each minute of planning at beginning of a project, you will save 10 minutes of headache later

DMPs Help You Too!

A data management plan will make conducting research easier for you…

…So if you are required to create a DMP, why not use it to improve your practices?

WHAT ARE THE KEY PARTS OF A DATA MANAGEMENT PLAN?

Actual NSF DMP Requirements

• The types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project

• The standards to be used for data and metadata format and content

• Policies for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements

• Policies and provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the production of derivatives

• Plans for archiving data, samples, and other research products, and for preservation of access to them

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/gpg_2.jsp#dmp

Key Questions

1. What data will I create?2. What standards will I use to document the

data?3. How will I protect private/secure/confidential

data?4. How will I archive and preserve the data?5. How will I provide access to and allow reuse

of the data?

Be Aware

• Actual requirements vary by funder and division

• Look up your requirements before you write your DMP

HOW DO I TRANSLATE MY RESEARCH TO EACH OF THESE PARTS?

1. WHAT TYPES OF DATA WILL I CREATE?

What Are Data?

• “Research data is defined as the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings”– OMB Circular A-110

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a110

What Are Data?

• Observational– Sensor data, telemetry, survey data, sample data, images

• Experimental– Gene sequences, chromatograms, toroid magnetic field

data• Simulation– Climate models, economic models

• Derived or compiled– Text and data mining, compiled database, 3D models,

data gathered from public documents

What Not To Share

• Laboratory notebooks• Preliminary analyses• Drafts of scientific papers• Plans for future research• Peer reviews or communications with

colleagues• Physical Samples

No Data?

• Still need a data management plan• Plans with no data and no sharing will likely be

examined more closely– Carefully explain situation if you are in this

position

Exercise

• Conduct a quick inventory of the data you will acquire– What data will you collect?– Is your data unique?– How big will the data be?– How fast will the data grow?

2. WHAT STANDARDS WILL I USE TO DOCUMENT THE DATA?

What would someone unfamiliar with your data need in order to find, evaluate, understand, and reuse them?

Documentation

• Consider the difference in documenting for– someone inside your lab– someone outside your lab but in your field– someone outside your field

• Audience matters!

Documentation

Methods• How the data were

gathered• How the data should be

interpreted• What you did

– Limitations on what you did

• …build trust in your data

Metadata• What you’re looking at• Who made it and when• How it got there• What it means• What you can do with it

• …before you even look at the file

Methods

• Examples of methods to document– Code– Survey– Codebook– Data dictionary– Anything that lets someone reproduce your results

• Don’t forget the units!

Metadata

• Look for a metadata scheme before you collect the data!– Lots of metadata schemas available– Easier to record metadata when collecting data than

to convert later• Consult– Disciplinary repository

• Repositories usually have required metadata schemas

– Your peers– Subject librarian

Metadata Example: Dublin Core• Contributor

– Jane Collaborator

• Creator– Kristin Briney

• Date– 2013 Apr 15

• Description– A microscopy image of

cancerous breast tissues under 20x zoom. This image is my control, so it has only the standard staining describe on 2013 Feb 2 in my notebook.

• Format– JPEG

• Identifier– IMG00057.jpg

• Relation– Same sample as images

IMG00056.jpg and IMG00055.jpg

• Subject– Breast cancer

• Title– Cancerous breast tissue control

Exercise

• What methods information do you need to preserve?

• What metadata standard will you use for your data? -OR- Who will you contact to find a relevant standard?

3. HOW WILL I PROTECT PRIVATE/SECURE/CONFIDENTIAL DATA?

Security Issues

• Does your data fall under the following?– HIPAA

• Health information

– FERPA• Student information

– FISMA• Government subcontractor

– Human subject research, etc.

Ask for help!

Security Issues

• Secure storage• Controlled access• De-identification of personal information• Security training

Security Questions

• Access permissions– Who is allowed to access the data?

• Sharing– Am I required to share? Can I actually share?– Despite requirements, some data can’t be shared

• Responsibility– Who will make sure the data stays secure?

UWM Security Resources

• UWM Information Security Office– Visit: https://www4.uwm.edu/itsecurity/– Email: infosec@uwm.edu

• Certificate in Information Security• HIPAA– https://www4.uwm.edu/legal/hipaa/index.cfm

• FERPA– http://www4.uwm.edu/academics/ferpa.cfm

Exercise

• Do any regulations apply to your data?• If so, who is allowed to access your secure

data? Who will be responsible for data security?

4. HOW WILL I ARCHIVE AND PRESERVE THE DATA?

Archiving Is Not Storage

• Storage is keeping files to access• Archiving is about preservation– Data should be readable and usable– Data should be uncorrupted

• We can’t read some digital files from 10 years ago– This is what good digital preservation solves

Side Note

• If federally funded, you are required to retain your data “for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report.” AT LEAST.

• Better to keep on hand for at least 6 years– Recent retraction in 6-year old paper for failure to

provide original data• Preservation not an abstract issue

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a110#53http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/jci-paper-retracted-for-duplicated-panels-after-authors-cant-provide-original-data/

File Formats

• Easy way to ensure long-term usability• Use open file formats– Open and standardized– Well documented– In wide use– Examples: .txt, .tiff, .csv, .dbf

• Transform your data now, not later– Keep both file types

Other Preservation Concerns

• Obsolescence– Preserve software along with data

• Deterioration– Keep more than 1 copy to avoid corruption

• Media – ie. Can you still read a floppy disk?– Periodically move data off outdated media

Find a Trustworthy Partner

• Find outside help– Servers come and go, so do labs

• Off campus– Disciplinary data repository– Journal that accepts data

• Let someone else worry about this

Exercise

• What open file formats will you use to help preserve your data?

• If there isn’t an adequate open format, what software and hardware will you preserve?

5. HOW WILL I PROVIDE ACCESS TO AND ALLOW REUSE OF THE DATA?

Why Share?

• Get more credit for your work– In “studies that created gene expression

microarray data, we found that studies that made data available in a public repository received 9% … more citations than similar studies for which the data was not made available”

– “The citation boost varied with date of dataset deposition: a citation boost was most clear for papers published in 2004 and 2005, at about 30%”

• Get credit for unpublishable resultshttps://peerj.com/preprints/1/ (2013 study)

Why Share?

• Make your funder happy• Helps you find and use your data later• Disprove misconduct or fraud accusations• Stimulate new research

Audience

• Who is the audience for this data?– Coworkers?– Disciplinary/institutional colleague?– Researchers in allied fields?– Anyone?

• Audience will determine how to share the data

Ways To Provide Access

• Hands-off options preferable– Journal– Disciplinary repository• Embargoes may be possible here

– UWM Digital Commons• Small, discrete datasets

• Other options– By request– On your lab website

Exercise

• Who is the audience for your data?• Which way will you provide access?

RESOURCES

Resources

• Data Services Librarian– briney@uwm.edu

• Data management information– dataplan.uwm.edu

• UWM Information Security Office– infosec@uwm.edu

Thank You

• This presentation is available on Slideshare– http://www.slideshare.net/kbriney

• The content of this presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY)

• Some content used with permission from Brad Houston and Dorothea Salo

Questions?