Data creation, organisation, storage & sharing
What do I need to consider when creating and organising my data?
You’re almost certainly already familiar with the basics of creating and organising data in your research area, however, some aspects may be new to you. As a refresher, the UK Data Service provide guidance on all aspects, including:
- File Formats and Software
- Recommended Formats
- Organising Data (e.g file structure)
- Quality Assurance
- Version Control and Authenticity
- Transcription
- Digitising Data.
You may also want to review metadata standards for your subject area. The DCC has links on its Disciplinary Metadata page.
What documentation do I need to produce?
You need to produce documentation / metadata that includes all the information required to re-run the entire experiment/process from scratch. It doesn’t need to be long, but it should include settings, conditions, significant decisions made etc, to enable the data to be fully understood. This will enable your conclusions to be independently verified and your data to be reused, thus making the research process transparent. When sharing your research data at the end of your project you’ll also need to share your documentation.
The UK Data Service’s ‘Document your data’ page provides useful advice on this topic. If you need advice at any stage please contact researchdata@port.ac.uk.