Research Data Management: Organization

Quick presentation on how research data management best practices for organizing and documenting your research data.

Transcript

1. RESEARCH DATA MANGEMENT: ORGANIZATION FGCU Library WHAT ARE DATA MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES? HOW DO I ORGANIZE + DOCUMENT MY DATA?
2. Data Management Basics • File Organization ◦ Is your data organized meaningfully? Or is it jumbled together in one folder or on your desktop? Do you know where your data is? • Documentation ◦ Do you have contextual information with your data? Can you understand it? Can a someone outside your research team understand it?
3. File Naming • Use file naming conventions any time you have related files • Be consistent • Short yet descriptive • Don’t use spaces and special characters EXAMPLE Don’t: File12935.xls Do: Project_instrument_location_YYYYMMDD.csv
4. Organization There are a number of possibilities. Do whatever makes sense for your project! • Create a system ◦ Consider: file type, dae, type of analysis • Work with collaborators • Stick to your organization system • Use file version control EXAMPLE Don’t: Documents\Research\Sample1.jpg Do: C:\\NSFGrant123\CaloosahatcheeBiodiversity\Images\Calo_20170120.tiff
5. Document • Create a README file • Document on project, folder, and item levels • Document any data processing and analyses • Include your written notes ◦ Notebook as data hard copy ◦ Transcribe or scan your written notes • Always use descriptive names
6. What’s in a good README file? • Names + contact information for people associated with the project • A description of the organization and a list of all the files • Copyright and licensing information • Limitations of data • Any and all information necessary for someone else to understand and replicate your research