This survey summarizes research data management practices and perspectives of faculty at a university. The majority of respondents were from medical and social science fields and stored less than 1 terabyte of data primarily on desktop drives and department servers. While familiarity with data sharing requirements was mixed, only a third currently share data outside their group, mainly through email or links in publications. Respondents expressed willingness to share with other researchers but had various concerns about sharing more broadly such as sensitive data or lack of credit. Few currently deposit in repositories and interest in university data services was highest for preparation of data management plans and workshops.

1. Survey of Faculty Practices and Perspectives
on Research Data Management
Fall 2012

2. Areas of Research
medical/applied sciences
social sciences
basic sciences
humanities
0 50 100 150
Respondents (Number)

3. Approximately how much digital research data
are you currently storing (choose one)?
megabytes
gigabytes
terabytes
petabytes
don't know
0 10 20 30 40 50
Respondents (%)

4. What is your current method of
data storage or back-up (choose all that apply)?
desktop/laptop hard drives
external hard drives
dept/university server
instrument hard drives
internet-based storage
written notes/printed materials
discs/tapes
other
0 20 40 60 80
Response (%)

5. How familiar are you with the requirement
for data management and/or sharing plans
as components of many funding applications
(choose one)?
very familiar
somewhat familiar
not at all familiar
0 10 20 30 40 50
Respondents (%)

6. Do you currently share your data with people
outside of your research group (choose one)?
yes
no
0 20 40 60 80
Respondents (%)

7. If you currently share your data with people outside
of your research group, how do you share your data
(choose all that apply)?
email
supplementary info linked to journal article
data repository/databank
dept/university website
personal website
other
0 20 40 60 80 100
Response (%)

8. With whom are you willing to share your data
(choose all that apply)?
researchers working on project
researchers outside of project
funders
instructors
public
other
no one
0 20 40 60 80 100
Response (%)

9. What reasons might prevent you from sharing data
with people outside of your research group
(choose all that apply)?
data contain personal/sensitive information
might not get credit
data misinterpretation/misuse
too much time/effort
data require secure/restricted access
data of little value to others
commercialization/patent concerns
not licensed to share data
other
0 10 20 30 40 50
Response (%)

10. Do you currently deposit some or all of your data
in a data repository/databank (e.g., GenBank, ICPSR)
(choose one)?
yes
no
0 20 40 60 80 100
Respondents (%)

11. If you currently deposit your data in a
data repository/databank, which one do you use?

12. If you do not currently deposit your data
in a data repository/databank, how interested
are you in starting to do so (choose one)?
very interested
somewhat interested
not at all interested
0 10 20 30 40 50
Respondents (%)

13. How familiar are you with documenting
and/or creating metadata for your data (i.e. so the
contents of datasets can be understood by others
and/or computer-readable) (choose one)?
not at all familiar
somewhat familiar
very familiar
0 20 40 60 80
Respondents (%)

14. Which services would you use if they were
offered by Emory University (choose all that apply)?
preparing data management plans
data management workshops for faculty
personalized consultation
confidentiality/legal issues
institutional data repository
data documention/metadata
digitization of physical materials
data management workshops for trainees
finding appropriate data repositories
data citation services
other
0 20 40 60
Response (%)