1. Managing Your Research Data for Maximum Impact
Dr Rob Daley
Centre 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

2. What type of data do you work with?
2
Why do we need to manage our data?

3. 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
3

4. 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.
4

5. 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?
5

6. Developing a Data Management Plan
6

7. Managing the Research Data lifecycle
Creating
Data
Processing
Data
Analysing
Data
Preserving
Data
Giving
Access
Re-using
Data
7
Adapted from UK Data Archive http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/life-cycle
DMP covers
all aspects

8. 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
8
Taken from DCC checklist, available at:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/data-forum/documents/docs/DCC_Checklist_DMP_v3.pdf

9. 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
9

10. Data storage and data transfer
• Storing data
• Data security
• Storage of personal data
• Encrypting data
• Data back-up
• Data Integrity (MD5 Checksums)
• Data Disposal
10

11. 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.
11

12. 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
12

13. 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/
13

14. Publishing research data
FAIR Principles
• Findability
• Accessibility
• Interoperability
• Reusability
14
Further detail available at https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples

15. 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)
15
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.

16. 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.
16

17. 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 Identifiers
A persistent identifier for the data, a doi, can be minted and used to
reference the data - e.g. in a published paper.
17

18. 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
18

19. 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 MOOC
Start 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” webinar
Joint 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

20. 20
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

21. 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/
21
See also links within the presentation.

22. Thank You!
22