A presentation given to researchers in the Business School at the University of Northampton on 20th February 2013.

1. RDM tools and tips
Sarah Jones
Digital Curation Centre
www.dcc.ac.uk

2. Today’s Talk
Will provide pointers to
• Guidance resources
• Training
• RDM tools
• Good practice
• Specific support at Northampton

3. An introductory guide
UK Data Archive,
Managing and Sharing Data:
best practice for researchers
(May 2011)
http://www.data-
archive.ac.uk/media/2894/
managingsharing.pdf

4. The UKDA guide includes:
• Sample consent forms to reuse
• A table of recommended file formats
• Models and tools for version control
• Best practice on storing and transferring data securely
• Guidance on costing data management
• Practical case studies on each topic
• A data management checklist

5. UKDA training materials
Each section contains:
• introductory powerpoint(s)
• presenter's guide - where necessary
• exercises and introduction to exercises
• quizzes
• answers
http://data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/training-resources

6. An online training course
University of Edinburgh,
Research Data MANTRA
(August 2011)
http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/
mantra

7. MANTRA includes:
• Best practice guidance
• Videos of researchers
• Quizzes & exercises
• Software practicals

8. MANTRA software practicals
• SPSS module
• R module
• ArcGIS module
• NVivo module
Example coverage
– Introduction
– Preparing your Qualitative data for use in NVivo 9
– Managing your data when working in Nvivo 9
– Managing your data at the end of your project

9. DCC How to guides
Short, practical guides on various topics:
How to develop a data management and sharing plan
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/develop-data-plan
How to select and appraise research data:
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/appraise-select-research-data
How to licence research data
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data
How to cite datasets and link to publications
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/cite-datasets

10. Disciplinary metadata catalogue
A catalogue of disciplinary metadata
standards, explaining what they are, who's using
them and how to use them
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/
metadata-standards

11. DCC tools catalogue
A catalogue of RDM tools for different audiences.
Tools for researchers focus on data
handling, managing workflows, citation and
impact.
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services

12. • DataUp is an open source tool to help you
document, manage, and archive your tabular
data. It integrates with Microsoft® Excel.
• DataUp will
– Check your spreadsheet for best practices
– Help you to create metadata
– Get credit for your work via identifiers
– Ease data sharing and archiving
http://dataup.cdlib.org

13. ...a web-based tool to help researchers write Data
Management Plans according to different funder
requirements
We’re currently enhancing it with practical
examples, boilerplate text and tailored support
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk

14. How DMP Online works
Create a plan
based on
relevant
funder /
institutional
templates...
...and then
answer the
questions
using the
guidance
provided

15. Tailored guidance
• We can also work with you to develop guidelines and examples
for your department / research group
We are currently working with a researcher in Centre for
Children and Youth (CCY) and have developed a crib sheet with
guidance and examples based on his data management plan.
These examples can be fed into the DMP Online tool
Example
How will you back-up the data during the project's lifetime?
All data will be stored on a secure server at the University of Northampton. This
server is provided free-of-charge for University staff and is systematically backed
up on a daily basis according to institutional policy.

16. Data Centres & Repositories
• Check out what data centres are available
• Reuse existing data where possible
• Link to data from your publications
A repository to
showcase research
at Northampton List of data centres
http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk http://databib.org

17. Northampton RDM policy
• Adopt the RCUK code of good practice
• Write and follow a Data Management Plan
• Make data accessible wherever possible
• Deposit in a repository for preservation
www.northampton.ac.uk/info/20283/academic-
research/1606/research-data-policy

18. UoN storage and backup advice
IT strongly recommend that you store and back
up your files to the University network
– Personal areas (R: drive)
– Shared departmental areas
File servers are backed up automatically by IT
services

19. Accessing data remotely
• Fileway
Fileway lets you access your data from anywhere using a web
browser and Novell login.
https://fileway.northampton.ac.uk/Fileway
• iFolder
This service synchronises the same folders across several
computers, so you can work online or offline.
www.northampton.ac.uk/info/20273/it-and-technical/335/storing-your-work

20. New research data store trial
• The University is rolling out TUNDRA 2
– open content management system
– to store, manage and preserve files
– facility to share internally and externally
• We’ll trial using this for research data storage
• Let us know if you’d like to be involved!

21. Advice and support
Check out the new Research Support Hub!
It’s a one-stop-shop for researchers to come for the latest
research news, forthcoming events and research support
The Hub is a combined initiative from the Graduate
School, the Research and Strategic Bidding Office and
Library and Learning Services at the University
http://researchsupporthub.northampton.ac.uk

22. Advice from SAS staff
Miggie Pickton
Research Support Librarian
miggie.pickton@northampton.ac.uk
Phil Oakman
Records Manager
phil.oakman@northampton.ac.uk

23. Thanks - any questions?
For DCC guidance, tools and case studies see:
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources
Follow us on twitter @digitalcuration and #ukdcc