This slideshow was used at a training session delivered at the Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford, on 2014-05-07. It provides some tips for keeping your research material under control.
Keeping on Top of Your Research Data - 2014-05-07 - Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford
1. Keeping on top of your
research data
Slides provided by members of the
University of Oxford inter-departmental
research data support team
2. What does data include?
“A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized
manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.”
Digital Curation Centre
Keeping on top of your
research data
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project
3. What does data include?
Any information you use in your
research
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project
Keeping on top of your
research data
4. Introductions – what sort of data are you
working with?
Qualitative?
Quantitative?
Network data?
Images?
Multimedia?
Other data types?
Data you’re creating or
gathering?
Third party datasets?
Keeping on top of your
research data
5. Carrots and sticks
Work efficiently and
with minimum hassle
now
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
Keeping on top of your
research data
6. Policy and funder requirements
University of Oxford Policy states that research
data should be:
Accurate, complete, identifiable, retrievable, and
securely stored
Able to be made available to others
Funders are also taking an increasing interest
in data
Many require it to be shared at the end of a project
Keeping on top of your
research data
7. Consider a data management plan
A document which may be created in the early
stages of 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
Keeping on top of your
research data
8. Digital Curation Centre
A national service
providing advice and
resources
Create a data
management plan
using the DMP online
tool
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/
Keeping on top of your
research data
9. DMP20
DMP20 is an online form that allows the
creation of a simple data management plan
Based on David Shotton’s Twenty Questions for
Research Data Management
Keeping on top of your
research data
http://www.miidi.org/dmp/
10. Forward planning pays dividends
Plan with sharing in mind from the beginning
Appropriate consent from interview subjects
UK Data Archive offers example consent forms
Distinguish third
party and new data
Keeping on top of your
research data
11. What’s obvious
now might not
be in a few
months, years,
decades…
Adapted from ‘Clay Tablets with Linear B Script’ by Dennis, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5692813531/
MAKE SURE
YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND
IT LATER
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project
Keeping on top of your
research data
12. ‘What a mess’ by .pst, via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psteichen/3915657914/.
Can you find what you
need, when you need it?
Keeping on top of your
research data
13. Hierarchical systems vs. tagging
Hierarchical organization uses nested folders
Default option for most operating systems
Tagging allows more flexibility
Items can be in multiple categories
Some operating systems support tagging
File tagging software is also
available
Sort… or search?
Keeping on top of your
research data
14. Adding tags in Windows 7
Keeping on top of your
research data
15. Hyperlinks and shortcuts
Hyperlinks can lead to other files on your
computer, as well as Web links
Use shortcuts to avoid duplicating files
Create project folders to group related
material together
Access key folders quickly with
the Windows ‘Favorites’ feature
Keeping on top of your
research data
16. File naming
Aim for concise but informative names
Ideally, you should be able to tell what’s in a file
without opening it
Think about the ordering of elements within a
filename
YYYY-MM-DD dates allow chronological sorting
You can force an order by adding a number at
the beginning of the name
Consider including version information
Keeping on top of your
research data
17. File naming strategies – examples
Order by date:
2013-04-12_interview-recording_THD.mp3
2013-04-12_interview-transcript_THD.docx
2012-12-15_interview-recording_MBD.mp3
2012-12-15_interview-transcript_MBD.docx
Order by subject:
MBD_interview-recording_2012-12-15.mp3
MBD_interview-transcript_2012-12-15.docx
THD_interview-recording_2013-04-12.mp3
THD_interview-transcript_2013-04-12.docx
Order by type:
Interview-recording_MBD_2012-12-15.mp3
Interview-recording_THD_2013-04-12.mp3
Interview-transcript_MBD_2012-12-15.docx
Interview-transcript_THD_2013-04-12.docx
Forced order with numbering:
01_THD_interview-recording_2013-04-12.mp3
02_THD_interview-transcript_2013-04-12.docx
03_MBD_interview-recording_2012-12-15.mp3
04_MBD_interview-transcript_2012-12-15.docx
Keeping on top of your
research data
18. File naming strategies – examples
In retrospect I am not very happy with the method I
used for naming files. The biggest problem was with
the newspaper articles I downloaded… I named the
files only based on the topic of the article, without
mentioning the name of the periodical and the year
of publication, which would have been very useful
later, when I began writing the thesis.
– Doctoral student researching communication history
Keeping on top of your
research data
19. Are you using the right tools for the job?
Take time to assess whether your current
software and methods are meeting your needs
Sticking with old familiars can be false
economy
Ask friends and colleagues for
recommendations
Keeping on top of your
research data
20. Be aware of options and seek training
Reference and citation tools:
Refworks
Endnote
Zotero
Mendeley
Follow the ‘managing your references’ link on Solo
and/or LibGuides
Be aware of your departments citation rules
Keeping on top of your
research data
21. Designing your data
Create your data on basis of informed decisions
Database design – IT Services training courses
Methodology literature
Archival guidelines e.g. UK Data Archive ‘Create
& Manage Data’ pages
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage
Keeping on top of your
research data
22. Numerical data
Explore key numerical software packages
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
Stata (more recent alternative to SPSS)
R (another alternative)
What is in use in your work environment?
What tools and commands look useful?
Keeping on top of your
research data
23. Non-numerical data
Ensure transcription style is thought through and
appropriate to analysis
Look for examples and guidelines
Methodology literature
UKDA resources http://www.data-
archive.ac.uk/create-manage/format/transcription
Keeping on top of your
research data
24. Potential of CAQDAS
Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software
Various packages that; code text, allow searching,
create memo fields, designate attributes
Leading examples NVivo, Atlas-ti, Max-QDA,
Transana, QDA Miner and more
Potentially may be applied to text, audio, images and
video
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/
Keeping on top of your
research data
25. Support of CAQDAS
Always check what support is available through
Bodleian and IT Services e.g. Introduction to NVivo 10
workshop
Outline of using NVivo with data (UK Data Archive)
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/262066/ukda-
datamanagement-nvivo.pdf
Comparison
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/researchcentres/c
aqdas/support/choosing/index.htm
But what is in use in your field?
Keeping on top of your
research data
26. Data management and analysis
Data management is not a stage before and after
research
Data management blends with analysis
Databases should be created that are the launch pad
for data collection and analysis
Most tools include features that allow analysis and
creation of metadata (Stata, Atlas-ti etc.)
Digital data has strengths and weakness and benefits
from more forward planning
Keep on top of it – and on top of support services…
Keeping on top of your
research data
27. 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
Currently being used by a small group of test users –
will become more widely available
later in 2014
http://ords.ox.ac.uk/
Keeping on top of your
research data
28. Research Skills Toolkit
Website and hands-
on workshops
A guide to software,
University services,
and other tools and
resources for
research
Requires SSO login
http://www.skillstoolkit.ox.ac.uk/
Keeping on top of your
research data
29. IT Learning Programme
Over 200 different IT
courses
Covering software, skills,
and new technologies
ITLP Portfolio offers
course materials and
other resources
http://portfolio.it.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/
Keeping on top of your
research data
31. Make multiple copies…
…and keep them in different places
Automate the
process if you can
Slide adapted from
the PrePARe Project
Keeping on top of your
research data
32. 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
Keeping on top of your
research data
33. File syncing
If you work on
multiple devices,
consider file syncing
software
Always have the
latest copy of your
files available
But be careful with
sensitive data
Keeping on top of your
research data
34. ORA-Data (formerly 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
In some cases, may
be a suitable home
for DPhil data
Keeping on top of your
research data
35. 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, etc.
But the earlier you seek advice, the better
For more information, see:
http://research.it.ox.ac.uk/
Keeping on top of your
research data
36. Research data management website
Oxford’s central
advisory website
University policy
is available
Questions?
Email
researchdata
@ox.ac.uk
Keeping on top of your
research data
http://researchdata.ox.ac.uk/
37. Research Data MANTRA
Free online
interactive
training modules
Aimed at
postgraduates
and early career
researchers
http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/
Keeping on top of your
research data
38. Upcoming courses and events
Full details on WebLearn’s Researcher Training site
Social Science Data Archives and Statistical Databases
Preparing Your Research Data for the Future: What You
Can Do Now to Avoid Problems Later
Managing Your Social Science Research Data from
Beginning to End
Introduction to MANTRA
Working with Sensitive or Confidential Research Data
Things To Do With Data lunchtime talk series (see
http://research.it.ox.ac.uk/datatalks)
Keeping on top of your
research data
39. Any questions?
Ask now, or email us on
researchdata@ox.ac.uk
Keeping on top of your
research data
40. Rights and re-use
This presentation is part of a series of research data management training
resources prepared by members of the University of Oxford inter-
departmental research data support team. The team includes people from
the IT Services Research Support Team, and the Bodleian Libraries.
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
Keeping on top of your
research data