Research Data Management

Introduction

Sharing scholarly research data and making it widely accessible has many important benefits. A great deal of research data has been lost in the past by not being well managed, organized or kept available in accessible formats.

Research data must be well managed in order to be shared. That is to say, data needs to be be carefully organized and described in the initial planning stage in order to be effectively used by other researchers.   

Research data management includes planning for collection, documentation of research data, as well as arranging for data access, and the long term storage, and preservation.

This process includes:

• Creating a data management plan using the National Data Management Planning (DMP) Assistant.
• Finding the best metadata schema for the data project.
• Depositing odata into a reputable data repository. This might include a subject discipline repository, and/or or the Saint Mary’s University research data repository SMU Dataverse.

The Importance of Sharing Research Data

• Sharing data aids in the evaluation of research findings by a wider audience making it easier for others to validate and replicate.
• Preparing your data with sharing in mind improves the completeness and usability of your data 
• Research data sharing allows other researchers to make cumulative advancements based on multiple shared datasets.
• Making research data visible and accessible increases likelihood that research will be cited gaining greater impact and recognition for research contributions.
• Depositing your data in a recognized repository ensures long-term preservation of data for future researchers
• Sharing research data associated with articles is becoming a requirement of many scholarly publishers.
• Research data management for data sharing is becoming a requirement of Canadian research grant funding, and funding from many other sources.

Canadian Tri-agency includes the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). These funding agencies strongly support research data sharing, data management and open access. These agencies  have set polices which will require grant funded researchers to organize and manage data produced for funded research, so that it can be shared with other researchers.  

Many International research funders also require open data sharing including:

• The Sloan Foundation
• The Gates Foundation
• United States National Science Foundation
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• European Commission

Source: How to avoid a data management nightmare, by Karen Hanson, Kevin Read & Alisa Surkis, New York University Health Sciences Library under a CC-BY license. 

Common Questions

What if I haven't finished my research yet?

You can set an embargo date on deposited data to prevent others from having access until after your research is complete and published. In the meantime, your data is safe, well-documented, and available exclusively to you and your research team.   

Do I retain Copyright?

Depositing data into a repository does not generally affect copyright ownership. Depositors can specify conditions with which secondary users must compy to when accessing deposited data. Data are normally shared for research and teaching purposes only, and not for commercial purposes.

What kinds of research data can be deposited?

We consider a wide variety of data types and sources from all disciplines. Contact us with any questions.  

(some of the contents/images for this guide were adapted/used from both Queens and Dalhousie RDM guides)