LibGuides: Research Data Management: RDM

Research data management (RDM) describes the organisation, storage, preservation, and sharing of data collected and used in a research project.

Research Data Management applies to all all ATU staff and research students engaged in research, irrespective of funding, and those who are conducting research on behalf of the University.

Research data refers to anything that is required to validate or reproduce research findings, or to get a better understanding of them.

Being mindful of how you manage your data will help you to:

Fulfil funder and institutional expectations and policies
Ensure your data is accessible and shareable
Show responsible practice
Keep your research safe and secure
Increase your research efficiency
Enhance your research integrity
Increase your impact
Make your research outputs more visible
Facilitate collaboration

Making data available in a well-timed and responsible way ensures other researchers can validate it, develop it and use it to progress knowledge.

The management of research data is essential to high quality research and academic integrity. Whether you are an undergraduate, graduate, or an academic working on a research project, managing your data well is one of the best ways ensure standardisation, reproducibility, and the ability to disseminate your research; along with saving you time in the long run. Without proper data management, the validity of research results might be doubted, jeopardising your reputation, as well as the reputation of the college.

Examples of research data:

text documents
audio and video recordings
photographs
spreadsheets
collections of digital objects
questionnaires, transcripts of interviews
algorithms, scripts

Data should be managed to be:

Compliant - funding bodies, institutions and publishers increasingly require grant-holders to develop and implement DMPs, with policies on how data is managed and shared.
Efficient - well-managed data enables data discovery, access, validation, analysis, shareability and longevity.
Responsible - data management is a fundamental ethics code of the responsible conduct of research.
Transparent - data that is suitably managed and described supports published research outcomes and improves data quality.