This presentation was given as part of the 'Things to do with Data' series of lunchtime talks at IT Services, the University of Oxford, on 2014-10-22

1. An Introduction to Research Data
Management
Things To Do With Data – Michaelmas 2014
Slides provided by Research Support Team,
IT Services, University of Oxford

2. What does data include?
“A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized
manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.”
Digital Curation Centre
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

3. What does data include?
Any information you use in your
research
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

4. What does research data management
cover?
Organizing
Storage
Preservation
Documenting
Sharing
Choosing
technology
Versioning
Structuring
Backing up
Curation
Security

5. Relevant throughout the research process
Planning
and
applying
for funding
Setting up
and
starting
work
Day-to-day
work
during the
project
Project
conclusion

6. Carrots and sticks
 Enable efficient day-to-
day work
 More time for the
meat of the research
process
 Avoid problems in the
future
 University of Oxford
Policy on the
Management of
Research Data and
Records
 Funding body
requirements

7. University of Oxford policy
Introduced July 2012

8. University of Oxford policy
 The full policy can be viewed on the Research Data
Oxford website
 Research data is defined as the information needed ‘to
support or validate a research project’s observations,
findings or outputs’
 Research data should be:
 Accurate, complete, identifiable,
retrievable, and securely stored
 Able to be made available to others

9. Funders’ requirements
 Funding bodies are taking an increasing
interest in what happens to research data
 You may be required to make data publicly
available at the end of a project
 Many funders require a data management plan
as part of grant applications
 RDO website provides
a summary of requirements

10. Setting up
and
starting
work
Day-to-day
work
during the
project
Project
conclusion

11. Data management plans
 A document created early on in a project
 While planning, applying for funding, or setting up
 An initial plan may be expanded later
 Details plans and expectations for data
 Nature of data and its creation or acquisition
 Storage and security
 Preservation and sharing

12. Benefits of data management plans
 Ask key questions before problems arise
 Have time to look for solutions
 Saves time and reduces stress
 Many tasks are straightforward if planned from
the beginning, but much harder in retrospect
 A framework for ongoing review of data
management practices

13. DMP Online
 Online data
management
planning tool
 Can be
customized
according to
funding body
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/

14. Planning
and
applying
for funding
Day-to-day
work
during the
project
Project
conclusion

15. What storage media are in use?
How about file formats?
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

16. Storage
 Departmental IT support may be able to
provide server space or a shared drive
 IT Services’ NSMS offers server rental and
management, storage on the University’s
private cloud, and other storage solutions

17. Data security
 Is there data that needs special treatment?
 Sensitive or confidential information
 Commercial potential
 InfoSec at IT Services can provide advice –
see http://www.it.ox.ac.uk/infosec/ for more
details

18. Backing up is
easier than
replacing
lost data…
http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/08/01/why-you-need-a-data-management-plan/
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

19. LOCKSS – Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe
Keep copies in different places
Can the process
be automated?
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

20. IT Services: data back-up on the HFS
 HFS is Oxford’s central back-up and archiving
service
 Free of charge to University staff and
postgraduates
 Automated back-ups of machines connected to
University network
 Copies kept in multiple places

21. Choosing the right tools for the job
 Are current software and methods meeting
your needs?
 Sticking with old familiars can be false
economy
 Ask friends and colleagues for
recommendations

22. Tools and technologies for managing data
 Spreadsheets may be fine for small,
straightforward tasks
 More complex projects might benefit from a
relational database
 Microsoft Access, FileMaker Pro, etc.
 Or a qualitative data analysis package
 Nvivo, Atlas.ti, etc.
 Or an XML database...

23. ORDS – Online Research Database
Service
 Specifically designed for academic research data
 Cloud-hosted and automatically backed up
 Web interface makes collaboration straightforward
 If desired, databases can easily be made public
 Designed to permit easy archiving
 Launched in the summer of 2014
 http://ords.ox.ac.uk/

24. Other data management tools and systems
 LabTrove – an electronic lab notebook system
 NeuroHub – an information environment for
managing data from lab-based research
 DataStage – a secure personalized file
management environment
 myExperiment – record and
share scientific workflows
 Taverna – for managing
scientific workflows

25. Research Skills Toolkit
 Website and hands-on
workshops
 A guide to software,
University services,
and other tools and
resources for
research
http://www.skillstoolkit.ox.ac.uk/

26. Planning
and
applying
for funding
Setting up
and
starting
work
Project
conclusion

27. What’s obvious
now might not
be in a few
months, years,
decades…
MAKE SURE
YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND
IT LATER
Adapted from ‘Clay Tablets with Linear B Script’ by Dennis, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5692813531/
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

28. Documentation and metadata
 Documentation is the contextual information
required to make data intelligible and aid
interpretation
 A users’ guide to data
 May be given at study level or data level
 Metadata is similar, but usually more structured
 Conforms to set standards
 Machine readable

30. Documentation – what needs to be included
• Who created the data, when and why
• Description of the item
• Methodology and methods
• Units of measurement
• Definitions of jargon,
acronyms and code
• References to related data
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project

31. Maintaining consistency
 Agree a set of standard working practices as
early as possible in a project
 Method of recording what’s been done to
data – and who did it
 File naming conventions
 Version information
 Have these clearly documented, and
store the documentation centrally

32. Planning
and
applying
for funding
Setting up
and
starting
work
Day-to-day
work
during the
project

33. Long term solutions
 Data repositories or archives offer a secure
long-term home for research data
 Data can be embargoed if needed
 Databib and Re3Data.org offer searchable
catalogues of repositories
 Figshare offers a DIY option

34. ORA-Data (formerly known as DataBank)
 University of Oxford’s institutional data archive
 Will work alongside ORA-Publications to form a
composite University archive
 Long term preservation for datasets without
another natural home
 Plus records for data
archived elsewhere

35. Planning ahead
 Data sharing needs to be planned from the
beginning of a project
 With sensitive data, consent may be needed
 Third party data may come with restrictions
 If data is destined for a particular archive, they
may have specific requirements
 Do they use a specific metadata
schema, for example?

36. Data licensing
 A licence clarifies the conditions for accessing
and making use of a dataset
 User knows what’s allowed without asking further
permission
 Doesn’t exclude possibility of specific requests to
go beyond the terms of the licence
 Licences used for data include Creative
Commons and Open Data Commons

37. Further resources

38. Digital Curation Centre
A national service providing advice and
resources for the whole research data lifecycle
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/

39. UK Data Archive
 Largest UK
collection of social
sciences and
humanities data
 Advice on best
practice for creating,
preparing, storing
and sharing data
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/

40. IT Services: Research Support Team
 Can assist with technical aspects of research
projects at all stages of the project lifecycle
 Help with DMPs, selecting software or storage,
modelling data, etc.
 But the earlier you seek advice, the better
 For more information, see:
http://research.it.ox.ac.uk/

41. Research Data Oxford website
 Oxford’s central
advisory website
 University policy
is available
 Questions?
Email
researchdata
@ox.ac.uk
http://researchdata.ox.ac.uk/

42. Any questions?
Ask now, or email us on
researchdata@ox.ac.uk

43. Rights and re-use
 This presentation is part of a series of research data management
training resources prepared by the Research Support Team at IT
Services, University of Oxford.
 Parts of this slideshow draw on material produced as part of the
Oxford-based DaMaRO Project, and on resources produced by the
PrePARe Project
 With the exception of clip art used with permission from Microsoft,
and commercial logos and trademarks, and images specifically
credited to other sources, the slideshow is made available under a
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License
 Within the terms of this licence, we actively encourage sharing,
adaptation, and re-use of this material