Data Stewardship at UNC
The UNC-Chapel Hill Provost's Task Force on the Stewardship of Digital Research Data submitted its report in February 2012. Among its findings were:
- Faculty as a whole have little awareness of data management best practices, but grant-making agencies' and journals' data management requirements are raising awareness of the need for data management.
- Because researchers use a wide variety of data types and file sizes, there is no possibility of finding one single data management solution for all disciplines, and no single repository can serve the entire university's needs.
- Faculty want to retain control of and responsibility for their data.
- Researchers face many obstacles in sharing their data.
While the Conclusions and Recommendations portion of the report has not been made public, the redacted report is available online.
About this Guide
This toolkit is intended to help researchers understand the issues involved in data management; provide resources for formulating data management plans and managing research data; and locate services available on campus for various aspects of data management. The Data Management Committee of the UNC Libraries maintains the content of this guide. See the links at left for specific sections.
If you don't find information here for the funding agency to which you will be sending a proposal and/or for which you want help with formulating your data manangement plan, please contact us at dataplan@listserv.unc.edu.
The content sections included here are:
- Agency Rqs/GuidanceTop funding agencies for UNC and links to their data management/sharing policies and guidance
- Templates/ExamplesSample plans, templates and example plan language.
- ServicesData management services available around campus
- TrainingRecordings of and slides from brown bag sessions held jointly with the Odum Institute, the Carolina Pop Center and other offices
- Assess Data NeedsFigure out for yourself some things to consider
- Online ToolsCommercially and openly available software or web sites that may help with various data management functions
- Contact UsRequest information or assistance for your data management plan or send us feedback on this Research Data Toolkit guide.
- AboutAbout this toolkit, our partners and sources
Defining Research Data / Data Life Cycle
Research "data" is whatever your research product is: numeric data sets, images, a curriculum, qualitative text analysis, the citations that support your analysis of Shakespeare or Michaelangelo, sound files, video files, etc.
The data "life cycle" is generally defined in relation to the research life cycle as shown in the first image below. You may have different types and sizes of data at different research stages. You may also have different policies at different stages for managing those data as shown in the second image below.
Image 1: Data (in red) within the Research Life Cycle
Image 2: Possible Policy Changes for Data Over the Research Life Cycle
by Leesa Brieger, RENCI
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