Why should you spend time worrying about data management? Here
are a few reasons why we think it is important.
-
Save Time –
By spending a little bit of up-front time and planning and
organising the data you produce you will save time and
resources in the long run.
-
Increase your
efficiency – If you document your data
properly whenever you or someone else comes to it they will
be able to understand it quickly and without
difficulty. Thus saving time and increasing efficiency.
-
Preserve and protect your
data – It is relatively easy to produce data
that will be useful only the once and for a very specific
purpose. Learn how to ensure that the data can be
useful again and again, and how to make sure that it is never
lost.
-
Data is an output in its own
right – that’s right; data itself is
increasingly being seen as an important output of
research. If shared, it can better enable
researchers. The REF (Research Excellence Framework)
now takes note of it.
-
Meet grant
requirements – Many funding bodies now
require that researchers archive data as well as the
resulting publications as part of their project. Good
data management will make this easy rather than a last minute
chore.
-
Open
Access – In the UK government policy has
moved to an open access framework. Producing and making
available data is a vital part of this process.
Journals are increasingly making room for data alongside
articles, for example.
-
Transparency/research
integrity – If required you have all the
documents and materials easily available making your research
more transparent if questioned.
There are of course other reasons but we don’t wish to bore
you, especially at such an early stage.