1. RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT FOR
POSTGRADUATES
Lynn Woolfrey
lynn.woolfrey@uct.ac.za
Ulwazi Knowledge Commons, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library
University of Cape Town, 13 August 2015

2. Preparing
Data for Re-
use
Data
Collection
and File
Creation
Depositing
Data for re-
use
Data
Analysis
Project
Start-Up
Proposal
Development
& DM
Planning
“In the context of research …"Data Management"
refers to the storage, access and preservation of
data produced from a given investigation.”

3. Also called Research Data Curation

4. NEW REQUIREMENTS FROM FUNDERS AND UNIVERSITIES
Research Data Management

5. From 2011 many research funders began
requiring research data management plans
in funding proposals.

6. In SA the National Research Foundation
now requires Data Management for Sharing
“[If Intellectual Property rights don’t apply] the data generated from this research
must become available to other researchers working in the same field (National
Research Foundation: Acceptance of grant conditions 2010).”

7. In line with Universities worldwide, UCT is creating
policy that will require long-term preservation of
UCT research output including data

8. WHY SHOULD WE DO IT?
Research Data Management

9. Actually, where
IS my data?
What do they
mean by RDM?
Who are they to tell
me what to do with
my data?
The university is just
dreaming up more
admin for me!
To ensure research data is preserved and
discoverable in the long-term

11. RDM Supports Better Research -
Keeping accurate records of the research
Process is sound research practice

12. RDM can prevent academic fraud
Professor Diederick Stapel, at Tilburg University - Published 55 academic papers -
Supervised 19 Ph.D. degrees based on his data - Faked all his data
“Stapel’s fraud went undetected for so long because of “a general culture of
careless, selective and uncritical handling of research and data” at the
University
Study Shows Meat
Eaters are more
Aggressive

13. RDM enables data re-use
Research funders want to maximise returns on their
investment in research by encouraging data re-use

14. WHO CAN HELP?
Research Data Management

15. Data Services can take
the RDM burden off
researchers

16. At UCT DataFirst can help you prepare and
share your research data

17. HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Research Data Management

18. Data Management Planning elements
• Data Type
• Data Format (including size of data files)
• Data description (metadata) standards used
• Storage and backup
• Security
• Responsibility
• Ownership and Intellectual Property rights
• Data sharing

19. What type of data will you collect?
Research Data is ….primary input into research and
first order results of that research
• “…Records documenting the research process (e.g. research protocols; applications for
regulatory approvals and approvals granted)
• Records documenting research outcomes or products (e.g. technical reports)
• Records documenting the management of the research process/project(s)(e.g. applications
for funding; contracts; purchase invoices; staff timesheets)
• Research data in both ‘raw’ and ‘analysed’ form (e.g. datasets in Stata; notes; completed
questionnaires; audio/video recordings; images; instrument readings; samples).

20. What format will your data be in?
Results of a UCT survey on research data management needs, April 2013

21. How much data will you collect?

22. Who owns the data?
Who will manage the data?

23. What data description standard will you use to
describe your data?

24. Standards for file naming,
versioning, metadata
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/index.html
http://www.ddialliance.org/node/822
http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/services/data-curation-process

25. How will your data be stored?
• How will data be stored and backed up during the project?
• How will data be selected for longer-term preservation?
• How much space will you need for your data?
• In which repository will the data be held?
• How long will the data be retained?
• How will data security be handled during the project for
access by collaborators and data transfer from the field to
storage?
• How will you deal with confidential data during the project?
• How will data authenticity be assured?

26. Web-tools for Data Management Planning
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage
https://dmp.cdlib.org/

27. Plan for data sharing now
Your research reputation will in future be linked to making
your well-organised research data available to the
academic community once you complete your research
This will be done through the coupling of data sharing to
academic recognition, and through increased citations from
Linked Open Data

28. Questions?
Questions?
support@data1st.org