research data management matters: considerations in ... · creating shareable and reusable research...
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Research Data Management Matters: Considerations in Creating Shareable and Reusable Research DataScott SummersSenior Officer, Research Data ManagementUK Data Archive
Information Champions EventUniversity of Essex15th June 2017
Session objectives
• Explain who the UK Data Archive and UK Data Service are and identify the services we provide.
• Briefly explore some of our data to give you a flavour of our data holdings.
• Explain what research data management (RDM) is and why it is important for researchers to plan and consider it.
• Identify the specific RDM training we provide and explore – very broadly – some of the RDM topics that we can provide guidance and assistance on.
The UK Data Archive
• The UK Data Archive is an internationally acknowledged centre of expertise in acquiring, curating and providing access to social science and humanities data.
• It was founded in 1967, at the University of Essex, with the support of the then Social Science Research Council, with the aim of curating high-quality research data for analysis and reuse.
The UK Data Service (1)
• The UK Data Service is a consortium of research institutes across the UK funded by the ESRC.
• The core Service is comprised of a partnership between the Universities of Essex, Manchester and Southampton and Jisc.
• Leadership and direction is provided by the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex.
The UK Data Service (2)
• The UK Data Service is a comprehensive resource funded by the ESRC to support researchers, teachers, students and policymakers who depend on social and economic data. We provide help and guidance with accessing, managing, and using data.
• We also provide a unified point of access to the extensive range of social and economic data.
• A ‘one-stop-shop’ for social science datahttps://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/
The Discover Catalogue
What does the UK Data Service do?
• Put together a collection of the most valuable data and enhance that over time.
• Preserve data in the long term for future research purposes.
• Make the data and documentation available for reuse.• Provide data management advice for data creators.• Provide support for users of the service.• Information about the use to which data are put.• Easy access through a website - ukdataservice.ac.uk
Some statistics
Holdings: data for research and teaching purposes, used in all sectors and for many different disciplines.
• 7,100 datasets in the collection
• 25,000 registered users
• 60,000 downloads worldwide p.a.
• 5000+ user support queries p.a.
Our data sources
• Official agencies - mainly central government.
• International statistical time series.
• Individual academics - research grants.
• Market research agencies.
• Public records/historical sources.
• Access to international data via links with other data
archives worldwide.
Our data
Government InternationalLongitudinal
Large-scale government funded surveys
Census Business
Major UK surveys following individuals over time
Multi-nation aggregate databanks and survey data
Range of multi-media qualitative data sources
Census data 1971 – 2011
Sensitive data requiring secure access systems
Qualitative
Large-scale UK surveys• General Lifestyle Survey (General Household Survey).
• Labour Force Survey.
• Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland.
• Living Costs and Food Survey (Expenditure and Food Survey).
• Crime Survey for England and Wales (British Crime Survey).
• Family Resources Survey.
• Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (ONS Opinions Survey, ONS Omnibus Survey).
• English Housing Survey (Survey of English Housing).
• British Social Attitudes.
• National Travel Survey.
What do users do with the data?
• Comparative research, restudy or follow-up study.
• Re-analysis/secondary analysis.
• Research design and methodological advancement.
• Replication of published statistics.
• Teaching and learning.
RDM• Research data management affects every aspect of the
research data cycle from creating data, right through to reusing data.
• It concerns how you: create, process, organise, store, preserve and reuse data.
Why is it important to manage research data well?• Data creation in research is often expensive.• Good quality data is the cornerstone of good quality
research.• Data underpins published findings.• Enables compliance with ethical codes, data protection
laws, journal requirements and funder policies.• To protect data from loss, destruction and potential
exposure.• To ensure data are suitable for sharing.• Impact.
What do we do with RDM?
• Provide guidance, support and training on data management, data management planning and data sharing to researchers and ESRC grant holders.
• Coordinate and manage ReShare (our online self-deposit repository).
• Work with researchers and ESRC Research Centres to achieve good data management practices and metadata standards, to optimise the sharing and archiving of their research data.
How do we provide our advice?
Webinars• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/news-and-events/events
Face-to-face training• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/news-and-events/events
Online training resources• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/tools-and-
templates• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/help/get-in-touch
Handbook• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/handbook
What RDM topics do we provide guidance on?• Data management planning and planning to share data.• Legal and ethical issues around data sharing.
• Obligations. • Consent for sharing.• Anonymisation.• Access control.
• Documenting research data.• Formatting and organising data.• Storing data.
• File sharing and cloud storage.• Security and encryption.• Back up.• Disposing of data.
A little more detail..
• Protecting participant's identities
1. Consent.
2. Anonymisation.
3. Managing access to data.
Consent is needed across the data life cycle
• Engagement in the research process.• decide who approves final versions of transcripts.
• Dissemination in presentations, publications, the web.• decide who approves research outputs.
• Data sharing and archiving.• consider future uses of data.
Always dependent on the research context – special cases for covert research, verbal consent, etc.
A good information sheet & consent form
• Meet the requirements of data protection laws:• purpose of the research. • what is involved in participation. • benefits and risks.• mechanism of withdrawal.• usage of data – for primary research and sharing.• strategies to ensure confidentiality of data (anonymisation and
access) where this is relevant.
• Need to balance:• as simple as possible.• complete for all purposes: use, publishing and sharing.• avoid excessive warnings.
Informed consent in practiceAfter the project has ended, we intend to archive the interviews at …. Then the interview data can be disseminated for reuse by other researchers, for research and learning purposes. We expect to use your contributed information in various outputs, including a report and content for a website. Extracts of interviews and some photographs may both be used. We will get your permission before using a quote from you or a photograph of you.
The interviews will be archived at ……. and disseminated so other researchers can reuse this information for research and learning purposes:q I agree for the audio recording of my interview to be archived and
disseminated for reuseq I agree for the transcript of my interview to be archived and
disseminated for reuseq I agree for any photographs of me taken during interview to be
archived and disseminated for reuse
AnonymisationQuantitative data • remove direct identifiers (e.g. names, address and institution).• reduce the precision/detail of a variable through aggregation (e.g.
birth year instead of date of birth and occupational categories rather than job).
• restrict upper lower ranges of a variable to hide outliers (e.g. income and age).
Qualitative data • avoid blanking out; use pseudonyms or replacements.• avoid over-anonymising – removing/aggregating information in text
can distort data or make it misleading.• identify replacements, (e.g. with [brackets]).• keep an anonymisation log of all replacements, aggregations or
removals made and keep it separate from the anonymised data files.
Anonymisation in practice
Access Controls
• available for download/online access under open licence without any registrationOpen
• available for download/online access to logged-in users who have registered and agreed to an End User Licence (e.g. not identify any potentially identifiable individuals)
• special agreements (depositor permission; approved researcher)
• embargo for fixed time period
Safeguarded
• available for remote or safe room access to authorised and authenticated users whose research proposal has been and who have received training
Controlled
Data access in practiceHealth and Social Consequences of the Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in North Cumbria, 2001-2003 (study 5407 in UK Data Archive collection) by M. Mort, Lancaster University, Institute for Health Research.• Interviews (audio and transcript) and written diaries with 54 people.• 40 interview and diary transcripts are archived and available for re-
use by registered users (Safeguarded).• 3 interviews and 5 diaries were embargoed until 2015 (Safeguarded
– Embargoed).• Audio files archived and only available by permission from
researchers (Safeguarded – Special Agreement).
discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=5407doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/5407/mrdoc/pdf/q5407userguide.pdf
