Managing and Sharing Data: Best Practice for Researchers

To support researchers in producing high quality research data for long-term use, the UK Data Archive has revised and expanded its popular and highly cited Managing and Sharing Data: best practice for researchers, first published in 2009.

The new third edition is 36 pages covering:

* why and how to share research data
* data management planning and costs
* formatting data
* storing data
* ethics and consent issues
* copyright strategies

These are augmented with a list of third-party references, 19 case studies that demonstrate best practice examples and a checklist to guide data management planning. A suite of more detailed online information on the UK Data Archive website complements this guide.

Like previous editions, the revised guide is free of charge to higher education researchers in the UK thanks to funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) Programme and the UK Data Archive. JISC and Relu have joined the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in officially endorsing the guide.

The guide is available online in PDF format http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/2894/managingsharing.pdf. Printed copies can be requested from comms@data-archive.ac.uk

Managing and sharing social science research data: legal and ethical issues

8 April 2011, 10.00-2.30
British Library, London

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2751

As part of its current Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) grant, the UK Data Archive will host a workshop on managing and sharing research data for quantitative and qualitative social science research. The workshop is aimed at social researchers at all stages of their career - from new to experienced - and will cover key legal and ethical issues surrounding the managing and sharing of data in research with people (surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations and ethnography). The workshop will provide guidance and practical exercises and discussions focusing on:


• ethical and legal issues in data sharing and re-use
• handling and sharing confidential information and personal data
• informed consent and data sharing
• anonymising data

Content is based on advice and guidance provided by the UK Data Archive to researchers and aims to help researchers plan data management strategies for projects and consider data sharing and archiving as part of ethical review procedures.

Travel bursaries are available for postgraduate students. Contact datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk for further information.

Organisers: UK Data Archive, Research Data Management Support Services, University

On-line Tool for Data Management Plans

The Digital Curation Centre has released a trial version of a new tool to assist users in developing data management plans http://dmponline.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/ 

Funding bodies increasingly require their grant-holders to produce and maintain Data Management Plans (DMPs), both at the bid-preparation stage and after funding has been secured.


DMP Online is designed to enable researchers to build and edit DMPs with a view to the requirements stipulated by the major UK funders.

If you are applying to one of the funders that make specific data-related demands at the application stage (i.e. AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, Wellcome) you will see the funder's requirements in the left-hand column. These have been mapped to the appropriate clauses in the DCC Checklist for a Data Management Plan. By answering these questions, you should de facto meet the funder's requirements. The tool also presents options for developing DMPs for funding bodies that do not have specific data related demands.

For US researchers a prototype based on the DCC tool is in development http://www.cdlib.org/uc3/datamanagement/dmpo.html

Funding for Data Preparation

Are you

- LSE staff or an LSE postgraduate student?
- Involved in collecting data?
- Willing to be involved in a project looking at barriers and solutions to the reuse of research data?

If so there may be funding available for your data preparation work. If you are interested in finding out more please drop me an email.