Supporting Evolving Research Needs

ALISS One Day Summer Conference

30th July 2013

Supporting Research Data Management

John SouthallLSE Data Librarian

j.southall@lse.ac.uk

What is it?

• A concern with all the material produced during digital research

• Not just the publications!• Extension of digital literacy and good

research practice• Stronger input / expectations from research

stakeholders

Roots of RDM

• Digital realm• Expansion in research and research collaboration

in academia• Digital media drawbacks

• Inflexible formats• Easily lost• Lack organisation• Short-termism

Growth of RDM

• Digital media strengths• Easily stored• Produces perfect copies• Great potential for sharing, re-use

• Evolution of digital literacy• More data being made available

Practical examples

• Documents, spreadsheets• Research notebooks/Codebooks• Questionnaires, transcripts, • Audio, images & videotapes• Resource: UK Data Archive / UK

Data Service

Research Data Objects

• Acquired or generated during the research process

• Databases • Standard operating procedures,

guidelines or protocols• Metadata - context

Language of Research Data Management• Type - Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed• Terms - created or converted• Formats - alternatives

• Proprietary• Non-proprietary• Obsolete

• Greater involvement in research process• Resource: University of Leicester RDM

A Wider Area for Support

• Data underlies publications and merits as much attention

• It will be archived and accessible• Preservation and multiple use depends

on curation of data• Avoid some of the pitfalls of working

with digital data

Understanding the research process• Where do we contribute?

• Discuss their research activity• Assess needs• Identify opportunities to assist• Overcome reluctance about RDM• Wider institutional support mechanisms

Common Themes

• Storage and preservation issues• Metadata• Research Ethics

• of data creation • and sharing

• Data Management Plan and Planning

‘The Plan’

• Describes the research data being created or collected

• Key responsibilities• How the data will be organised • Documentation during the collection

and analysis phase

Other aspects of ‘The Plan’

• Policy on data storage and security• Facilities and equipment?• Ownership and access rights • Long term availability• Plan v. Planning• Resource: Digital Curation Centre

More Common Areas for Support• Building on advice during initial

research• Developing funding proposals• Advising/ being aware of digital, data

or RDM issues• Advising/ being aware of ethical and

legal issues

Ethical and Legal issues

• Research Ethics• Access Restrictions• Participatory / Confidentiality agreements • Ethics Committees and Informed Consent• Responsible Conduct

• Legal Issues• Usage conditions• Data Protection FOI Legislation• Researcher aware and confident

Other Resources

• Edinburgh Data Library – Mantra• University of Bristol – Data.bris• University of Oxford – Damaro

• Support Agencies: JISC

Key Elements

• What is your data? • What data will you collect and wish to keep? • Will it be kept for the short or long term • How will you describe this data to enable future

access? (metadata)• Where will it will be stored? • Who will and will not have access to it? • How will that access be managed?

Supporting Research Through RDM

• Answer this question"What would you do if you lost your

research data tomorrow?”

• Not just compliance • Help researchers complete their work• Share data and results• Get credit for what they have done