1. Introduction to research data management

Research data are an essential part of a research, and they can be even the most important output of research projects. Although “data” refers to digital format, the term “research data” also includes physical material (e.g., samples). Research material and research data are often synonyms in the context of research data management.

To consider

  • What kind of research data do you produce or use?
  • What kind of challenges relate to the management of your research data?

Watch the video

The FAIR principles support good data management, CSC (1:44)

To consider

  • How can you follow FAIR principles with your data management?
  • How could another researcher, or someone else interested in the topic, find your research data or information about it?
  • How could your data or its metadata be accessed?

In a nutshell

research data management concerns how you

  • create and re-use data and plan for its use
  • organise, structure and name data
  • keep it – make it secure, provide access, store and back it up
  • share with collaborators, publish your data in a data journal or repository and get cited.

In the following sections of this study material, different parts of research data management are discussed in more detail.

(2023-08)

Next: 2. Collecting and using data