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Managing active research data

DATA MANAGEMENT

Managing active research data

During your research project it is important that you are aware of the types of data that you’re working with, in order to manage the data in an appropriate way.

DATA MANAGEMENT

Managing active research data

During your research project it is important that you are aware of the types of data that you’re working with, in order to manage the data in an appropriate way.

Legal compliance

When working with data it is important to be aware of if there are any legal regulations that you need to comply with when handling the specific data. This could for instance be (NB: this is not a comprehensive list):

Choose appropriate platforms

Proper management of data includes choosing proper infrastructure for data analysis, data sharing with collaborators, storage etc. 

When selecting a platform, you should always consider the purpose of the data handling as well as the type of data that you are working with, and match this with an infrastructure solution that meets the various wishes and demands for the data handling.

  1. 1

    Identify the purpose of the data handling

    Are you looking for a tool or system to analysis your data with? or a place to store raw data while working on it in another system? 

    Not all platforms er suitable for storage and therefore it's important to find the platform that matches your needs. 

  2. 2

    Identity the classification of the research data that you wish to handle

    Find the data classification model here: Data Classifica... What?

  3. 3

    Match the data classification with the list of systems available at AAU

    Find the list of systems and their specifications here: Where should I store my data? and Software and Tools - and match the systems and their specifications with your data handling needs. 

Tips and tricks when selecting the right platform

When selecting a platform, you should consider data’s characteristics and how you wish to handle it. For example:

  • Are you generating large amounts of data?
  • Are you working with data that has licensing agreements or other restrictions on its use and access rights?  
  • Are you working with collaborators outside AAU that needs access to the data?

Organizing and documenting data

When working with FAIR data, documentation and metadata are crucial in order to support other researchers’ interpretation and reuse of the research data. Systematically documented data is the key making data discoverable, citable and reusable.

When creating documentation and organizing data, think about the information other researchers and re-users’ needs to understand the data. The more documentation of the data’s context, the better. 

Tips for organizing and documenting data

  • Create basic rules for naming conventions on files and folders 
  • Create basic rules for folder structure
  • Create READ ME files with project documentation and data documentation description 
  • Use subject specific standards, vocabularies, keywords or ontologies commonly used within your research area to describe data
     

Find more inspiration on ways to organize and document data at the FAIR training page 

Support

If you need any help you can get support through the CLAAUDIA team. CLAAUDIA can help you with the handling of your research data (planning, organisation, documentation, storage and and preservation) during and after a research activity. For all questions and requests please contact us through the AAU service portal.

Contact os here

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