
Transcript 4
I think I look upon the role of data management for a new researcher as being one of those essential skills that you really ought to get at the same time as you learn how to handle your references, as you understand methodology, as you get to grips with the theory that is going to set the frame by which you do your research. And it sits alongside those and it's equal to them.
And in some respects I think I see having a good data management plan and understanding how you will handle data, especially if you're taking data from individuals, and especially gathering personal data of different kinds. That's comparable to getting ethical clearance that you need to understand because there is the implication of having an understanding of the ethics of your research is how and what you are going to do with the data.
You are beginning to think about research data management and so I think that actually I have been very impressed by DCC's data management planning tool because it does ask you all of the sorts of questions that I think that you should be asking yourself. So you don't have to build it from the ground up, it actually gives you a really good framework and for my postgrads now I am pointing them towards that and saying hey, you know, take a look at that because it will help you to think about how you're going to gather your data and how you are going to look after it from the beginning to the end of the project. It gives you a framework to deal with it rather than realizing too late that you haven't done some things that you should have done and therefore you've made your life and perhaps actually cause problems for you with the use of data subsequently or sharing your data is made that more difficult.
So, I guess that taking a look at that research data management planning and perhaps DCC's tool for that I think would be not a bad place to start. I think it's an essential skill, it's not one which I think you can neglect. It sits alongside all the other skills that you acquire.
Writing a data management plan by Edina, University of Edinburgh, modified by Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/introduction.html.