Do You Still Have Your Data? • What if your hard drive crashes? • What if you are accused of fraud? • What if your collaborator abruptly quits? • What if the building burns down? • What if you need to use your old data? • What if your backup fails? • What if your computer gets stolen?
This presentation is a crash course on practical data management. It is actually a portion of this talk (http://www.slideshare.net/kbriney/responsible-conduct-of-research-data-management) on data management and management plans, but I think the slides are useful enough to stand on their own.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Do You Still Have Your Data?
• What if your hard drive crashes?• What if you are accused of fraud?• What if your collaborator abruptly quits?• What if the building burns down?• What if you need to use your old data?• What if your backup fails?• What if your computer gets stolen?• What if…
Why Data Management?
• Don’t lose data• Find data more easily– Especially if you need older data
• Easier to analyze organized, documented data• Avoid accusations of fraud & misconduct• Get credit for your data• Don’t drown in irrelevant data
For each minute of planning at beginning of a project, you will save 10 minutes of headache later
• “Research data is defined as the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings”– OMB Circular A-110
• Consistent documentation– Record all necessary information– Keep information in one place– Easier to search and use later
• Take 5 minutes before starting a project• Create a list of information to record– Don’t forget to record the units!
Example
• For my experiment, I need to collect:– Date– Experiment– Scan number– Powers– Wavelengths– Concentration (or sample weight)– Calibration factors, like timing and beam size