Research Data Management: What is it and Why does it matter?

1. Research Data Management: What is it and Why does it matter? Kerry Miller Kerry.miller@ed.ac.uk

2. Running Order • What is Research Data Management (RDM)? • What is Research Data? • Typical Activities • Who Needs to be involved? • RDM Life Cycle • Why Does RDM Matter? • Funder Requirements • Benefits • Data Management Planning

3. What is Research Data Management? “the active management and appraisal of data over the lifecycle of scholarly and scientific interest” Data have importance as the evidential base of scholarly conclusions RDM / curation is part of good research practice

4. What is Research Data Management? • An umbrella term to describe all aspects of planning, organising, documenting, storing and sharing data. • It also takes into account issues such as data protection and confidentiality. • It provides a framework that supports researchers and their data throughout the course of their research and beyond.

5. What is Research Data?

6. What is Research Data? • Research data (traditional and electronic research) may include all of the following: • Documents (text, Word), spreadsheets • Laboratory notebooks, field notebooks, diaries • Questionnaires, transcripts, codebooks • Audiotapes, videotapes • Photographs, films • Test responses • Slides, artefacts, specimens, samples • Collection of digital objects acquired and generated during the process of research • Data files • Database contents (video, audio, text, images) • Models, algorithms, scripts • Contents of an application (input, output, logfilesfor analysis software, simulation software, schemas) • Methodologies and workflows • Standard operating procedures and protocols • Anything else used or created during a project which underpins a research output

7. Typical Activities • Creation and sharing of data • File naming and description • Restriction of sensitive data • Data storage • Selection and disposal • Data licensing • Data management planning

8. Who Needs to be Involved? • Researcher(s) • Research support officers / project staff • Lab technicians • Librarians / Data Centre staff • Faculty ethics committees • Institutional legal/IP advisors • FOI officer / DPA officer / records manager • Computing support • Institutional compliance officers • Funders • Archive / long-term data repository • Senior management • Others...

9. National Repository or Institutional Repository or Electronic Journal or Community Portal Research Data Management Platform Data Management Planning Expose Publish Analyse Collaborate Experiment Design Conceive Publish Expose Analyse Collaborate Experiment Design RDM Lifecycle

10. Why Does RDM Matter? Good RDM provides a number of benefits for both researchers and their institution, it ensures: • researchers meet funder / university / industry requirements • data are accurate, complete, authentic and reliable – as per good research practice – ensuring research integrity and replication • data security & minimises the risk of loss • increased efficiency - saving time & resources • data is available for their own future use

11. Why Does RDM Matter? Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development describes data as a public good that should be made available Research Councils UK in its code of good research conduct says data should be preserved and accessible for 10 years + Research Funder data policies increasingly demanding of institutional commitment and provisions...

12. Funder Requirements RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy Key messages: • Data are a public good • Adherence to community standards and best practice • Metadata for discoverability and access • Recognise constraints on what data to release • Permit embargo periods delaying data release • Acknowledgement of / compliance with T&Cs • Data management and sharing activities should be explicitly funded http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx

13. Funder Requirements • AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, and STFC all require some form of data management or sharing plan as part of a funding application. • The requirements are diverse, but they all have the RCUK Common Principles as their foundation. • Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust are not part of RCUK but both require data sharing plans. http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans/funders-requirements

14. Funder Requirements • EPSRC does not require researchers to submit data management or sharing plans in grant applications. • However, they do require research organisations to publish appropriately structured metadata online describing the research data they hold, normally within 12 months of the data being generated. • It is expected that data will be made available in a timely and responsible manner. • The EPSRC expects data to be maintained securely for 10+ years • The deadline for institutions to meet this requirement is May 2015

15. Funder Requirements

16. We don’t tend to do things because we should Focus on the benefits!

17. Benefits Validation of results Prevent data loss More citations: 69% ↑ (Piwowar, 2007 in PLoS) New research opportunities and collaborations Easier to do your work…

18. Data Management Planning • The RCUK funders, with the exception of EPSRC all require some form of Data Management Plan when applying for funding. Typically this should cover: • What data will be created (format, types, volume) • Standards and methodologies to be used (incl. metadata) • How ethics and Intellectual Property will be addressed • Plans for data sharing and access • Strategy for long-term preservation

19. Data Management Planning Tools and approaches to help: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk ICPSR Framework for creating a DMP http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/ datamanagement/dmp/framework.html

20. Any questions? For DCC guidance, tools and case studies see: www.dcc.ac.uk/resources Follow us on twitter @digitalcuration and #ukdcc