Managing Your Research Data for Maximum Impact

Dr Rob DaleyCentre for Academic Leadership & Development

Heriot-Watt University

r.a.daley@hw.ac.uk

@RD531

Scottish Part-Time Researcher Conference, University of Strathclyde June 30th 2016

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What type of data do you work with?

Why do we need to manage our data?

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Changing Research Landscape

• Continuation of Open Access agenda• Calls for more transparency with data supporting publications• A greater recognition that research data can have many uses• Pressure for publically funded data to be available to all• Already the norm in some disciplines

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Funders Policies

• Public funded data should be made openly available• Data with long-term value should be preserved, accessible and

usable• Sufficient metadata should be openly available for others to

understand the research and re-use the data. • Public results should include information on how to access the

supporting data.• Legal, ethical and commercial constraints are recognised. • Data creators/collectors may be entitled to privileged use for a

limited period.• Most want a DMP created alongside proposal.

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Challenges for Researchers

• Resources– Time; Data Storage; Repositories; Money

• Knowledge and Understanding• Skills

– Planning, Technical, others

• Technical Support

• Non digital data

• Local expectations and culture?

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Developing a Data Management Plan

Managing the Research Data lifecycle

Creating Data

Processing Data

Analysing Data

Preserving Data

Giving Access

Re-using Data

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Adapted from UK Data Archive http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/life-cycle

DMP covers all aspects

What You need to consider

• Introduction and Context• Data types, formats, standards and capture methods• Ethical and privacy issues• Access, data sharing and reuse• Short-term storage and data management• Deposit and long-term preservation• Resourcing• Adherence and review

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Taken from DCC checklist, available at:http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/data-forum/documents/docs/DCC_Checklist_DMP_v3.pdf

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Formatting and organising data

• File formats• Data conversion• Data transcription• Digitising data• File names and file structure• Quality assurance• Data collection, capture and data entry• Version control and authenticity

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Data storage and data transfer

• Storing data• Data security• Storage of personal data• Encrypting data• Data back-up• Data Integrity (MD5 Checksums)• Data Disposal

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Legal and ethical Issues

Legal• Data Protection Act (1998)• Human Rights Act (1998)

Ethical• Informed Consent• Anonymizing Data• Regulating Access• Formal ethical approval processes

Intellectual Property Rights• Commercial data, Patentable, etc.

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Using other peoples data

Uses• Secondary analysis• Replication or Validation of published work• Developing analysis skills

Limitations• Suitability?• Time to understand the data set• Lack of sufficient documentation• Ethical issues

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Publishing research data

Where to publish?• Data Centres and Archives

– (UK Data Service; Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre; NERC Centres etc.)

• Institutional Data Repositories• Journals and Data Publishing• Project websites

Licensing• How to Licence Research Data: http://

www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data

• Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/

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Publishing research data

FAIR Principles• Findability• Accessibility• Interoperability• Reusability

Further detail available at https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples

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Citing research data

• Author• Publication date• Title• Edition• Version• Feature name and URI• Resource type

• Publisher• Unique numeric fingerprint

(UNF)• Identifier (e.g. DOI)• Location (e.g. persistent

URL)

Huby,M. (2010). Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England, 2004-2009. [data collection]. UK Data Service. SN: 6447,http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6447-1.

Creating a Data Management Plan

• Go to DMP-online at https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/• Sign-up using HWU log-in details• Create a plan in line with funders expectations• Complete the various sections • Share your plan with collaborators, research

administrators etc.

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ORCID and DOIs

ORCID

“ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.”• https://orcid.org/register

Digital Object IdentifiersA persistent identifier for the data, a doi, can be minted and used to reference the data - e.g. in a published paper. 

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What can you do to maximise the use and impact of your data?

• Ensure people know it exists!• Ensure it is easy to find and easy to access• Promote your research online (web, social media etc.)• Promote your research at conferences• Track when your research is being used and shared

Online training on managing digital research data

There are free on-line training resources on Managing Digital Research Data available at the University of Edinburgh.See http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/

“Research Data Management and Sharing” a MOOCStart date: July 18th Duration 5 weeks

run by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill & University of Edinburgh.https://www.coursera.org/learn/data-management

“How to write a Data Management Plan” webinarJoint EUDAT- OpenAIRE Thursday, 7 July 2016 at 11.00 CEST (10.00 UK)https://www.openaire.eu/joint-eudat-openaire-webinar-how-to-write-a-data-management-plan 19

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The book can be found at:https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/managing-and-sharing-research-data/book240297

A companion website can be found at:https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/handbook

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References

1.Science as an open enterprise, Royal Society (2012) https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/projects/sape/2012-06-20-saoe.pdf

2.Open data dialogue Final Report (RCUK 2012) http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/tnsbmrbrcukopendatareport-pdf/

3.RCUK Guidance on best practice in the management of research data: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/RCUKCommonPrinciplesonDataPolicy.pdf

4. DMP online https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/See also links within the presentation.

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Thank You!