Stuart Macdonald Associate Data Librarian EDINA & Data Library University of Edinburgh [email protected]Research Data Management: What you need to know Research - an introduction for trainee physicians Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 22 March 2016
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Stuart MacdonaldAssociate Data L ibrar ianEDINA & Data L ibraryUnivers i ty of Edinburghstuart [email protected]
Research Data Management: What you need to know
Research - an introduction for trainee physiciansRoyal College of Physicians of Edinburgh22 March 2016
Defining research data & data types Research Data Management (RDM) Funder requirements Data (and software) management planning Organising data File formatting Documentation & metadata Storage & security Data protection, rights & access Preservation, sharing & licensing
Defining research data Research data are collected, observed or created,
for the purposes of analysis to produce and validate original research results.
Data can also be created by researchers for one purpose and used by another set of researchers at a later date for a completely different research agenda.
Digital data can be: o created in a digital form ('born digital')o converted to a digital form (digitised)
Types of research data
Research Data Management (RDM)
• RDM is a general term covering how you organise, structure, store, and care for the data used or generated during the lifetime of a research project.
• It includes:– How you deal with data on a day-to-day basis over
the lifetime of a project,– What happens to data after the project concludes.
RDM is considered an essential part of good research practice.
Good research needs good data!
Activities involved in RDM
Data management Planning
Creating data Documenting data Storage and backup Sharing data Preserving data
Why manage your data?
So you can find and understand it when needed.
To avoid unnecessary duplication. To validate results if required. So your research is visible and has impact. To get credit when others cite your work.
Drivers of RDM
“Publicly funded research data are a public good, produced in the public interest, which should
be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner that does not harm
intellectual property.”RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy/
Funding bodies’ requirements
Funders are increasingly requiring researchers to meet certain data management criteria.
When applying for funding, you need to submit a technical or data management plan.
You are expected to make your data publicly available where appropriate at the end of your project and include a short statement, describing how and on what terms any supporting research data may be accessed.
Horizon 2020 Open Data Pilot is driving lots of national RDM pilots across Europe
Parallels the response to the EPSRC data policy in UK
Research Councils UK (RCUK) published a draft Concordat on Open Research Data (17 August 2015) The 10 principles aims to ensure that research data generated by UK researchers is made openly available for re-use:• in a manner consistent with relevant legal, ethical and
regulatory frameworks• recognising the autonomy of researchers• emphasises responsibilities and accountabilities (research
institutions, universities, funders)• it does not intend to mandate specific activities. http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/ConcordatOpenResearchData.pdf
University of Edinburgh is one of the first few Universities in UK who adopted a policy for managing research data: http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/research-data-policy
The policy was approved by the University Court on 16 May 2011.
It’s acknowledged that this is an aspirational policy and that implementation will take some years. http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/research-data-policy
DMPs are written at the start of a project to define: What data will be collected or created? How the data will be documented and described? Where the data will be stored? Who will be responsible for data security and backup? Which data will be shared and/or preserved? How the data will be shared and with whom?
DMPs are often submitted as part of grant applications, but are useful in their own right whenever you are creating data.
DMPonline
Free and open web-based tool to help researchers write plans: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/It features:
o Templates based on different funder requirements
Keep it simple, short and specific. Avoid jargon. Seek advice - consult and collaborate. Base plans on available skills and support. Make sure implementation is feasible. Justify any resources or restrictions needed.Also see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OJtiA53-Fk
The EPSRC Software for the Future call requires SMPs as part of the Pathways to Impact. NSF SI2 funding requires software to be addressed as part of mandatory data management plans.
A prototype Software Management Plan (SMP) Service has been developed by the Software Sustainability Institute to help researchers write software management plans
A guide is on writing & using a software management plan is available: http://www.software.ac.uk/resources/guides/software-management-plans
Why? To ensure your research data files are identifiable by you and others in the future.Organising and labelling your research data files and folders will help to:
prevent file loss through overwriting, deleting, misplacing facilitate location and future retrieval save you time (mostly in the future)
How? With consistent & disciplined approach by: Setting conventions at the start of your project Adopting an appropriate file naming & versioning convention
Media Container: MP4, Ogg Codec: Theora, Dirac, FLAC
Quicktime, H264
Images TIFF, JPEG2000, PNG GIF, JPGStructured data XML, RDF RDBMS
Files encoded as text or binary files: • Text encoding: machine- and human-readable. Less likely to
become obsolete .txt, .csv, .html, .xml, .tex, etc.• Binary encoding: only readable with appropriate
software .fcp, .xlxs, .docx, .psd, .nc, etc.
File formatting
If you need to convert or migrate your data files to another format be aware of the potential risk of loss or corruption of your data. Always test the files you convert or migrate
You may also use the data normalisation process i.e. convert data from one format (e.g. proprietary) into another for use or preservation (e.g. into raw ASCII).When compressing your data files (storage, sending, sharing) you encode the information using fewer bits than the original representation. Compression programs like Zip and Tar.Z produce files such as .zip, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2
Documentation and metadata
Documentation (intending for reading by humans) Contextual information
o Aims & objectives of the originating project Explanatory material
o data sourceo collection methodology & processo questionnaire, codebooko dataset structureo technical information
Metadata (intended for reading by machines) ‘data about data’ descriptors to facilitate cataloguing and
discoverability.
Why it is necessary
To help you … remember the details of your data archive your data for future access & re-use
To help others … discover your data understand the aims and conduct of the
originating research verify your findings replicate your results
Data Storage - basic principles
Use managed, network services whenever possible to ensure:o Regular back-upo Data Securityo Accessibility
Avoid using portable HD’s, USB memory sticks, CD’s, or DVD’s to avoid:o Data loss due to damage or
failureo Quality control issues due to
version confusiono Unnecessary security risks e.g.
theft
Digital Preservation Coalition’s new promotional USB stick:https://twitter.com/digitalfay/status/411444578122600450/photo/1
Ethics Requirements relating to data that relates to human
subjects. Privacy, confidentiality & disclosure Data protection Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Copyright
Ethics
Ethics committees
Review research applications and advise on whether they are ethical.
Safeguard the rights of research participants.
Participants
Must be fully informed as to the purpose and intended uses of the research, and advised of what their involvement will entail.
Participation must be voluntary, fully informed and free of any coercion.
Confidentiality of information collected and anonymity of subjects must be respected at all times.
Privacy, confidentiality & disclosure
Privacy An entitlement of an individual subject. Handling, storage and sharing of data must be managed to preserve the
privacy of the subject.
Confidentiality Refers to the behaviour of the researcher, whereby the privacy of the
subject is maintained at all times.
Disclosure Must be guarded against! Various techniques to avoid it, whether for ethical, legal reasons or
commercial reasons, e.g. o removing identifiers from personal information (e.g. D.o.B, Nat. Ins. No.)o aggregating geographical data to reduce precisiono anonymising data – but without overdoing it!
Data protection & Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
The UK Data Protection Act 1998 is a Parliamentary Act defining the law on the processing of data on living people.
It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK
Research data falls within the scope of this Act.
Failure to observe it can result in: monetary penalty notices, prosecutions enforcement notices audit without consent
IPR is the legally recognized rights and protection given to persons for ‘creations of the mind’
e.g. music, literature, and other artistic & scholarly works; discoveries, inventions, symbols, and designs
IPR grants exclusive rights to creators to:
Publish a work License its distribution to others Sue if unlawful copies or use is made of it
Copyright
Can be contentious & complex!
When data are archived or shared, the creator retains copyright.
Data structured within a database as a result of intellectual investment, retains an additional ‘database right’
Can sit alongside the copyright attached to the data contents.
Freedom of Information The Freedom of
Information Act 2000 … gives a right of access to
information held by 'public authorities‘, which includes most universities
… covers all records and information held by them , whether digital or print, current or archived.
Some research data are exempt (data about human subject, commercial partners, national security)
Data preservation …
Preservation is key to the long term existence and future accessibility of research data and is worth thinking about at the planning stage. For the purposes of preservation data should be deposited in a trusted repository.
Research-funders ESRC data store: http://store.data-archive.ac.uk/store/ Zenodo (EU): https://zenodo.org/
accountability facilitates scrutiny of research findings prevents fraud
Extend reach of original research & fosters collaboration
..is making your research available for others to reuse & build upon.
Benefits
Barriers to sharing
“Scientists would rather share their toothbrush than their data!” Carol Goble, Keynote address, EGEE (Enabling Grid for EsciencE) ’06 Conference
Valid reasons not to share: Research conducted in clinical settings (e.g. clinical trials) Research that includes confidential data pertaining to human subjects Research for national security (e.g. with MoD) Research with commercial partners to develop patents (e.g. for drug development)
Future ‘share-ability’ of the data - issues to consider: Format, Software, Documentation, Ethics, Consent & Confidentiality, Anonymisation Timescale for release (embargo) Infrastructure for sharing Rights & licensing