Where do I start?
It's best to start considering your data management needs in the early days of a project, before actively collecting data. Many funding agencies now require you to include a data management plan in any grant proposal. A data management plan is a document that outlines how you will handle your data during your research and after the project is completed. In the plan you should consider questions like:
The DMP Tool
The Data Management Plan Tool is a resource created by the University of California Curation Center to assist with writing data management plans. It provides templates for many of the grant agencies requiring data management plans and offers examples of plans written by other applicants.
Additional Planning Resources
The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) is an internationally-recognised centre of expertise in digital curation with a focus on building capability and skills for research data management. They've put together a number of resources to assist with data management planning. Check out:
- How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan
- Checklist for a Data Management Plan
- Example plans and guidance
- DMPonline - A tool for writing data management plans. Very similar to the DMPTool but more focused on UK funding bodies.
The Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) also offers resources for data management plans. Look at their:
Interested in diving in deeper on questions around data management planning? The Turing Way is an open source community-driven guide to reproducible, ethical, inclusive and collaborative data science. This is a great resource if you're looking for training material on how to handle version control, analysis testing, and communicating data results.
Still have questions? Email the Digital Initiatives Librarian for more resources and assistance with writing data management plans.