NIH Data Policy or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Data Management Plan Kristin Briney, PhD 21 November 2014
Jul 14, 2015
NIH Data Policy or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Data Management Plan
Kristin Briney, PhD
21 November 2014
Investigators seeking $500,000 or more in direct costs in any year should include a description of how final research data will be shared, or explain why data sharing is not possible.
WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT DATA MANAGEMENT AND SHARING
PLANS?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/317952268 (CC BY) www.futuristmovies.com
Vines et al., The Availability of Research Data Declines Rapidly with Article Age, Current Biology (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.014
* This means that NIH data policies may change in the next couple years to require data management and sharing plans from everyone with NIH funding
Investigators seeking $500,000 or more in direct costs in any year should include a description of how final research data will be shared, or explain why data sharing is not possible.
How To Write an NIH Data Plan
• What data will you share?
• When will you share the data?
• Where will you make the data available?
• Who will have access to the data?
• How will you prepare the data for sharing?
What data will you share?
• Usual expectation is that you will share the data that correspond to a published article
– “Final research data”
What data will you share?
• Exceptions
– Human subject data
• Anonymize the data
• Individual sharing under specific agreements
– Proprietary data
• Delay sharing
What data will you share?
• Write about the data in your plan
– General description
• Sharing in a raw or analyzed form
– Justify exceptions
– Community standards
When will you share the data?
• Expectation is to share at the time of publishing the corresponding article
– Can share longitudinal data in waves
Where will you make the data available?
• Best option is putting into a data repository
– See recommendations from Scientific Data: http://www.nature.com/sdata/data-policies/repositories
– Ask me for a recommendation
• Best because
– Hands-off
– Promotes discoverability and citation
– Long-term stability
Where will you make the data available?
• Other options
– Share by request
• Good for sensitive data requiring agreement
– Upload to personal site
• Less ideal because you have to maintain
Who will have access to the data?
• Everyone
– License your data under Creative Commons (or make reuse permissions clear)
• Limited access
– Who?
– How will you control this?
How will you prepare the data?
• Don’t forget to
– Clean and quality control your data
– Add documentation
• Designate someone as the contact person
* Doesn’t necessarily have to go in your plan
One more thing…
• Request funds!
– If you need funds to comply, ask for them
– Justify within your grant
Example
The proposed research will include data from approximately 500 subjects being screened for three bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) at an inner city STD clinic. The final dataset will include self-reported demographic and behavioral data from interviews with the subjects and laboratory data from urine specimens provided. Because the STDs being studied are reportable diseases, we will be collecting identifying information. Even though the final dataset will be stripped of identifiers prior to release for sharing, we believe that there remains the possibility of deductive disclosure of subjects with unusual characteristics. Thus, we will make the data and associated documentation available to users only under a data-sharing agreement that provides for: (1) a commitment to using the data only for research purposes and not to identify any individual participant; (2) a commitment to securing the data using appropriate computer technology; and (3) a commitment to destroying or returning the data after analyses are completed.
Three options:
1. Private – owners & co-owners only
2. Within institution3. Publicly
Visibility settings
Follow the 3-2-1 Rule
3 copies of your data
In 2 different locations
On more than 1 type of storage hardware
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Organize Your Files
• Pick a system
– Get in the habit
– Work out a system with your coworkers
• Also helps to name your files consistently
Review Your Data Security Plan
• If you have sensitive data, make a plan
– Who has access?
– Strategies to limit access
– Who’s responsible?
• Make sure everyone knows the plan
– Discuss what is working and what isn’t
• Keep the plan up-to-date
Check Your Old Files
• Do you know where your old data are?
– Can you find the notes?
• Do you still have the software to read the files?
– Update file formats
• Is the hardware old or becoming obsolete?
– Update media
NIH Resources
• NIH Guidance
– http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing/data_sharing_guidance.htm
• DMPTool
– https://dmptool.org/
Local Resources
• Data Services
– DMP help, data management consultations, training
– http://uwm.edu/libraries/dataservices/
• Data Management Guide
– http://guides.library.uwm.edu/data
• Data Services Librarian