image: New handbook to managing research data puts academics in charge of their data. view more
Credit: Pelagic Publishing
International funding bodies, including the National Science Foundation, are now requiring researchers to create data management plans as part of the grant application process. While funders, libraries, publishers and other groups now support good management practices, researchers still lag behind in their understanding and implementation of this topic.
Researchers frequently encounter the following problems: looking for misplaced data files, reconstructing a dataset from notes and files and sorting out files with collaborators after they've become a mess of overlapping edited versions. These routine data management headaches are part of a rapidly growing problem with handling research output, from backing up, file naming conventions, management of large datasets and productive sharing of resources between researchers at different institutions. Data Management for Researchers tackles all of these problems and more, empowering researchers to take control of their data.
"The most frustrating experience I had as a researcher was trying to use someone else's data" says author Kristin Briney, "it can be practically impossible to reproduce someone else's experiment between tracking down digital files, scanning though paper lab notebooks, and trying to understand what they did. The solution to this problem, and even to using your own older data, is data management."
Several books on data management have recently been published, but all focus on how to manage, curate, and preserve data for information professionals. Kristin has a PhD in physical chemistry and an MA in library and information studies and uniquely approaches data management from the point of view of a research scientist and helps individuals take better care of their own data. Kristin says: "data management is not a mysterious or difficult practice. Rather, it is a series of small practices that make it easier to work with your data throughout the research process."
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Reference
Briney, K (2015) Data Management for Researchers: Organize, maintain and share your data for research success. Exeter, UK: Pelagic Publishing
Notes
- Kristin Briney (@KristinBriney) began her career as a research chemist before becoming more interested in (and frustrated by) the management of research data. She currently works in an academic library, advising researchers on data management planning and best practices for dealing with data. Kristin holds a PhD in physical chemistry and a Master's degree in library and information studies, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kristin blogs about practical data management at http://www.dataabinitio.com.
- Data Management for Researchers is available in Hardback, Paperback and eBook formats.
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