LibGuides: Research Support: Research Data

Introduction to Research Data Management (RDM)

"Research data management concerns the organisation of data, from its entry to the research cycle through to the dissemination and archiving of valuable results." (Whyte & Tedds, 2011)

The slides and recorded lectures on this page will explain the basics of good practice in research data management. The contents of the slides and lectures are based closely on material produced by MANTRA:

Research Data MANTRA [online course, http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra] by EDINA and Data Library, University of Edinburgh
DIY Research Data MANTRA Training Kit for Librarians [http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/libtraining.html] by EDINA and Data Library, University of Edinburgh

Additional information was sourced from:

RDMRose http ://http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk/
UCD’s Research Data Management LibGuide http://libguides.ucd.ie/data

Research Data Management (RDM) Training Slides

These slides explain the basics of research data management and closely follow the Research Data MANTRA [online course, http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra] by EDINA and Data Library, University of Edinburgh.

The importance of Research Data Management After reading these slides, you will: - Be able to distinguish between various types of research data. - Have some understanding of what the fuss about big data and data-driven science is all about. - Recognise the importance of managing research data.
Data Management Planning After reading these slides, you will: - Understand the general rules of appropriate data management in accordance with responsible conduct of research. - Be aware of good practice in managing research data in general and apply it within your own work context. - Be able to begin to draw up a data management plan for your research.
Organising data After reading these slides, you will: - Understand why research data organisation or housekeeping is important. - Recognise the importance of managing data file versioning, naming and re-naming conventions.
File formats and transformation After reading these slides, you will: - Understand why research data formatting & transformation is important. - Know how to make decisions about data file formatting, compression, normalisation & other transformations.
Documentation, metadata and citation After reading these slides, you will: - Understand why documenting your research data is important, and why documentation is important for using others' data. - Know why and when to use metadata. - Understand the importance of citing data, and how to do it.
Data storage and security After reading these slides, you will: - Be aware of the options available to you to safely store your data. - Recognise the importance of data backups. - Understand password safety guidelines. - Know how to encrypt and destroy sensitive data when required. - Be able to perform a small-scale risk assessment. - Be aware of ethical considerations, data protection & IPR.
Data sharing, preservation and licensing After reading these slides, you will: - Understand the benefits and challenges associated with sharing your research data. - Be aware of some of the drivers for data sharing requirements. - Be aware of risks to the longevity of your digital data. - Be familiar with basic concepts of digital preservation and trusted repositories. - Understand why you might want to license your dataset.

Organising Data

File Formats and Transformation

Documentation, Metadata and Citation

Data Storage and Security

Data Sharing, Preservation and Licensing

Online Tutorials & Resources

Research Data MANTRA Excellent online training course by EDINA and Data Library, University of Edinburgh
UCD Research Data Management LibGuide
RDMRose
DMPonline DMPonline has been produced by the UK's Digital Curation Centre to help research teams to prepare Data Management Plans (DMP), both during the bid-preparation stage and after funding has been secured. DMPonline can be used to write DMPs for Horizon 2020 projects and for PhD research projects using the UL Postgraduate DMP template.
Research Data Bootcamp (University of Bristol)
Research data (University of Bath)