I\u2019m currently developing a workshop on creating a data management plan (DMP) and, as part of this development process, I want to identify the absolute most important things to know in order to create a DMP. \u00a0Part of the reason for this is that I have a finite amount of time to address DMPs in this session but also because I don\u2019t want to waste people\u2019s time covering less important information.<\/p>\n
To start my development process, I\u2019ve come up with a list of some things a researcher might want to know when create a data management plan:<\/p>\n
From this list, it\u2019s clear that some of these points may be better addressed on a webpage of resources than during an in-person session (ie. finding DMP requirements, finding example plans, and a list of DMP tools\/resources). Other points are simply not a priority to cover.<\/p>\n
This leaves me with, what I think, are the most important things to know for creating a data management plan:<\/p>\n
These points also translate nicely into working through an outline DMP during my planned session, meaning researchers will leave the session with something usable and concrete.<\/p>\n
With these three points identified, let\u2019s dig into each one a bit more. I\u2019ll cover the first two points in this post and the third in another post in a couple weeks.<\/p>\n
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Why Are Researchers Being Asked to Create a Data Management Plan?<\/b><\/p>\n
Researchers with NSF<\/a> and NEH Digital Humanities Directorate<\/a>\u00a0(pdf link) funding\u00a0are currently required to create a data management plan as part of their grant applications. In the next few years, the other federal funders will add similar requirements for DMPs in response to the recent White House OSTP Public Access memo<\/a>\u00a0(pdf link). So everyone is getting on the DMP wagon, but the question is why?<\/p>\n From the funder perspective, data represents significant scholarly products that are not being utilized to their full potential (this is especially troubling to funders in the current financial environment). For this reason we are seeing funder mandates for data sharing; the eventual goal is to have massive data sharing akin to the distribution of scholarly articles. The barrier to reaching this goal is the fact that most research data are not well managed and often aren\u2019t maintained past the publication of the associated article. So data management plans are really the first step toward a new way of conducting research because well managed data are more easily shared data.<\/p>\n From the researcher perspective, DMPs are a requirement but also an aid to the research process. I\u2019ve talked about it on this blog before, but deliberate management of data makes it easier to conduct research. Good data management means that researchers are less likely to lose data, more likely to find data when they need it, and can more easily use the data due to better organization and documentation. I\u2019ve even heard it said that one minute of data planning at the start of the project will save 10 minutes of headache later in the project.<\/p>\n The bottom line is: yes, you\u2019re being asked to jump through another hoop in to get funding, but if you\u2019re already creating a plan why wouldn\u2019t you use it to make your research easier?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What Are the Key Parts of a Data Management Plan?<\/b><\/p>\n An NSF data management plan<\/a> must include the following information:<\/p>\n The actual DMP requirements will vary from agency-to-agency and even between directorates within one particular agency, so you’ll want to look up the requirements for your particular grant before you write up your DMP. Still, we can distill NSF\u2019s requirements into some common themes for the composition of a DMP. Basically, your plan should answer the following questions:<\/p>\n These are the key questions you need to ask yourself when creating any data management plan. They represent the many aspects of managing data from creation and documentation through preservation and reuse. By answering these questions, you will come up will a way to manage your data throughout the project.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll go into these 5 questions more in my next post and discuss how to apply each question to your individual research project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m currently developing a workshop on creating a data management plan (DMP) and, as part of this development process, I want to identify the absolute most important things to know in order to create a DMP. \u00a0Part of the reason … Continue reading \n
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