Managing and sharing research data - Louise Corti

Research funders in the UK, USA and across Europe are implementing data management and sharing policies to maximize openness of data, transparency and accountability of the research they support. Written by experts from the UK Data Archive with over 20 years experience, this book gives post-graduate students, researchers and research support staff the data management skills required in today's changing research environment.

The book features guidance on:

• how to plan your research using a data management checklist


• how to format and organize data


• how to store and transfer data


• research ethics and privacy in data sharing and intellectual property rights


• data strategies for collaborative research


• how to publish and cite data


• how to make use of other people's research data, illustrated with six real-life case studies of data use.
  

Louise Corti is an Associate Director at the UK Data Archive and is Service Director of Collections Development and Data Publishing, overseeing the acquisition and ingest of high quality data of interest to social scientists. Her research activities are focused around standards and technologies for reviewing, curating and presenting digital social science data, particularly using open source infrastructures and tools.

She has led research awards and regularly publishes, edits and advises internationally on a wide range of issues relating to the archiving, sharing and reuse of data. In the 90s, Louise helped establish Qualidata, the world first national qualitative data archive, pioneering approaches for and solutions to qualitative data archiving. She has taught sociology, social research methods and statistics, and spent six years working on the design, implementation and analysis of the British Household Panel Study at Essex.

Data are a major asset of economic and social research - the basis for research and also the ultimate product of research. Research data quality and provenance then become paramount in underpinning subsequent sharing and secondary scientific use. As the UK's largest funder of research on economic and social issues, the ESRC has been at the forefront of promoting the culture of sharing the results and data of the research it funds. The ESRC considers that effective data management is an essential precondition for generating high quality reusable data. Researchers need to be armed with the knowledge and skills to ensure that the data they create and manage can be exploited to the maximum potential for further research. This book offers these skills in an approachable way.

Professor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive

This is a timely, comprehensive and really useful guide to good practice in the management and sharing of research data. It outlines the processes and practices needed to ensure the highest standards of data management and addresses the potential pitfalls of poor practice - from the importance of early planning, to the issues of confidentiality and consent, rights and permissions, and citation.
Its great strength is the way it combines clear 'how to' case studies and checklists for action, with the rationale for action on each topic, addressing potential concerns and pitfalls. It should be required reading at the beginning - and end - of all research projects.

Jude England, Head of Social Sciences, The British Library

The breadth and depth of the cumulative expertise of the authors is evident throughout the sections of Managing and Sharing Research Data: A Guide to Good Practice that systematically highlight and address key trends and topics in research data management. The text is full of a rich combination of detailed examples, diagrams, exercises, and extensive references. As a result, the Guide simultaneously provides a practical handbook for getting on with research data management now, an instructional text for students and practitioners, a well-documented record of current practice that adds a valuable reference work to the literature of the community, and a roadmap for near-term and longer-term planning.

Dr. Nancy Y McGovern, Head of Curation and Preservation, MIT Libraries

At the heart of good research lies good data management practice. Corti and her co-authors give us a vivid and comprehensive account of the ins-and-outs of this vital professional skill, from managing and sharing data, understanding the data lifecycle and realistically costing data management, through documenting and organising data, to securing, preserving and reusing data while honouring ethical accountability and intellectual property considerations. Whether beginner or experienced professor, every researcher will find helpful up-to-data advice in the pages of Managing and Sharing Research Data, whose message is all the more important for hitherto receiving too little attention in the research curriculum. Coverage is extended by thought-provoking practical exercises, exemplars, case studies and a well-specified companion website. This book is a much-needed resource that will serve the field well.

Professor Nigel Fielding, Professor in Social Research Methodology, University of Surrey

This is the book we have been waiting for: a comprehensive guide to best practice in the essential work of preserving and sharing the data fundamentals necessary for modern, professional social science. The area is to a degree at the boundaries of standard research work and practitioners have to an extent been making it up as they go along; so, Louise Corti and her colleagues have done the wider research community a great service with this excellent guide. The exercises at the end of each chapter are useful learning points, and the chapter on publishing and citing research is particularly valuable in pushing the boundaries of best practice.
Professor Peter Davis, Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of Auckland

The authors of Managing and Sharing Research Data all work at the Data Archive and collectively have a wealth of experience in the complex range of activities related to promoting, managing and facilitating data sharing... This guide sets out to help students, researchers, academics and research support staff through these processes and deals with documenting, formatting, storing and transferring data, as well as with legal and ethical issues, publication and citation.


Emily Grundy, Professor of Demography at the London School of Economics