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Research Data Management

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is Research Data Management (RDM)?
    • RDM is organizing your data using the research cycle. RDM practices are integral to conducting responsible research and can help researchers save resources by ensuring their data is complete, understandable, and secure. It may seem like a lot of work, but it will make your research more efficient and prevent errors.
  • What are the benefits of RDM?
    • RDM is beneficial because it:
      • Increases the efficiency of the research process
      • Allows researchers to meet legal and ethical expectations and requirements of the academic institutions, funders, and legislation
      • Ensures the safety and sound stewardship of research data
      • Enables the reuse of data
      • Increases the exposure of research outcomes
  • What is a Data Management Plan (DMP)?
    • DMPs are formal, living documents detailing your data management strategies and tools. Creating a DMP allows us as researchers to manage our data before, during, and after the data collection phase.
  • Do I need to make a DMP?
    • DMPs are becoming more commonplace when applying for grants and are considered good practice at the start of the research project. The complexity of your DMP will depend on where you are in the research process. For instance, the Tri-Agency pre-funding DMP template is a simplified version of the standard DMP template.
    • Tri-Agency funding opportunities requiring data management plans
  • What is Data Deposit?
    • Data deposit is when you save a copy of cleaned and de-identified data in a recognized repository, usually cloud based, to preserve the data. Data deposit does not mean your data is openly available, but many repositories are open repositories.
  • What data do I need to deposit?
    • Within reason and after considering data sensitivity, deposit original datasets that reproduce published results, especially data that cannot be regenerated.
  • Why should I deposit data?
    • While there are several advantages to data deposit, one of the primary benefits is the preservation and prevention of data loss. Data repositories will have opportunities to curate and preserve your data over time, meaning it is less likely to be lost. Depending on where you are in your research journey, you may want to consider the benefits of your data being discoverable and tracked by view and download metrics. As well, you can use data deposit to link your data to publications, which may drive views to your publication or vice versa. It is also becoming more common for publishers to request data deposit in lieu of a supplemental data file upon publication.
  • Do I need to make my data open?
    • Currently, there are no policies or funders that require open data. What they do require is as open as possible, as closed as necessary. Some repositories are only open, but many are not. It's your decision whether or not to make your data open. It is recommended that you decide if your data will be openly deposited before you begin collecting data
  • My data will be sensitive, how do I deposit them?
  • I have large data, how do I plan for storage and deposit?
    • At the start of the research project, make a DMP to determine your estimated dataset size, storage and backup needs, and repository options. You can also contact the the Research IT Support Team if you think you need to purchase institutional storage space or consider specialized storage options. There are also some specialized storage options for active data collection form the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
    • For deposit purposes, in Canada the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) can handle files up to 4TB.
  • Who should be responsible for data after the completion of the project?
    • Typically, the PI is responsible for data. Additionally, best practice is to determine this during the planning stages of the project and record the decisions in a DMP. This can also be done at the close out of the project if not discussed in the planning stage. Questions to consider include:
      • Who is allowed to reuse the data later?
      • Who will store the master copy of the data and for how long?
      • Who keeps any physical research notebooks?
  • What happens if the PI leaves or there are other changes in the research team?
    • The best way to deal with changes to the research team is to discuss options during the planning stage and record decisions in a DMP. Remember DMPs are living documents and can be changed and updated as needed.
  • My project has qualitative data,what do I need to consider when sharing or depositing data?
    • Confidentiality is the biggest challenge with sharing qualitative data as extra care needs to be taken to remove information that would allow any of their research subjects to be identified. If you know you are going to be depositing and sharing qualitative data, addressing how data will be anonymized in a DMP will be beneficial. Another key consideration is that the changes made to anonymize data should be documented to assist secondary data users.
    • ICPSR has an excellent resource for Social Science data deposit that includes recommendations on how to deposit qualitative data.
  • Do I have to deposit my handwritten notes, lab notebook, or biospecimens?
    • The Tri-Agency Policy focuses on digital research data. You should describe how you'll manage your physical data in your DMP, but you only need to deposit the digital data.
  • My work is focused on creative output and arts-based research. What is my data? How do I protect my intellectual property?
    • The Digital Research Alliance of Canada has an excellent DMP Template for Arts-Based Research that can assist you in determining what your data is and how it could be managed. Some noteworthy points from the document include:
      • Artwork and other creative outputs are a prominent type of data in arts-based research that is commonly used as content for analysis and interpretation. Artworks that exist as, or are documented in, image, audio, video, text and other types of digital files facilitate RDM. The same applies to preparatory, supplemental, and discarded artworks made in the creation of a principal one. Research finding you create in the form of artwork can be treated as data if you will make them available for researchers, artists, and/or the public to use as data. Information about artisitic processes can also be data.
      • Some examples of data can include drawings, poems, films, short stories, performances, interactive installation, and social experiences favilitated by artists are examples of data. Data on artistic processes can include documentation of techniques, stages, and contexts of artistic creation, and the physical materials (e.g. paints, textiles, found objects) and tools (e.g. penciles, the body, musical instruments) used to create artwork. Other types of data are audio recordings of interviews, transcripts, photographs, videos, field notes, historical documents, social media posts, statistical spreadsheets, and computer code.