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Engaging the Researcher in RDM

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EDINA, University of Edinburgh
EDINA, University of Edinburgh

This document discusses engaging researchers in research data management (RDM) through data reference interviews. It provides an overview of EDINA and the University of Edinburgh Data Library and their roles in assisting researchers. It then describes the data reference interview process, highlighting the importance of understanding the researcher's field and data. Recommendations are provided for interviewing researchers and tools for assessing data are introduced. The document concludes by discussing the University's RDM strategy and engagement tools.

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Engaging the researcher in RDM Stuart Macdonald Associate Data Librarian EDINA National Data Centre & Edinburgh University Data Library Stuart.Macdonald@ed.ac.uk ANDS Data interviews webinar 13 August 2012
EDINA and University Data Library (EDL) together are a division within Information Services of the University of Edinburgh. EDINA is a JISC-funded National Data Centre providing national online resources for education and research. The Data Library assists Edinburgh University users in the discovery, access, use and management of research datasets.
What is a Data Library A data library refers to both the content and the services that foster use of collections of numeric, audio- visual, textual or geospatial data sets for secondary use in research. Focus on re-use of data Building relationships with researchers via PG teaching activities, research support projects, IS Skills workshops, Research Data Management training and through traditional reference interviews.
Data Reference Interview 1 hour appointment to discuss research question / context Establish whether data the researcher requires is available, suitable level of granularity , suitable and accessible format, assess licensing, cost, use conditions, software dependency Research Data sharing via research data repository Edinburgh DataShare - embargo, keywords, licenses (ODC), formatting, documentation, depositor agreement, copyright, dataset associated with publication
RIN Disciplinary Case Studies: understanding the information needs of life science researchers (Oct. 2008 – July 2009) Seven case studies were conducted across a diverse range of laboratories and research groups from botany to clinical neuroscience. http://tinyurl.com/d9j3yxs Deployed a range of qualtitative methods and tools designed to ‘enhance understanding of how researchers locate, evaluate, organise, manage, transform and communicate information sources as an integrated part of the research process’. 5-day information diaries (x55) F-2-F interviews, (x24) Focus groups (1 per case)
Interviewing researchers – considerations Research data can be much more complex than the post-publication content that librarians typically encounter. The data interview should be driven by the researcher and guided by the interviewer / librarian What constitutes data may be interpreted differently by different people at different times in different contexts Research data will have discrete issues or challenges associated with them thus it is important that the research data that are the subject of the interview are clearly defined
Interviewing researchers – considerations • Identify base level of knowledge about domain-specific research process (librarian) • Identify base level of knowledge about research data management (researcher) • Iron out ambiguities / domain-specific jargon as definitions may differ across disciplines • Use the ‘research data lifecycle’ as a framing device: Plan, Create, Use, Appraise, Publish, Discover, Re-use
University of Edinburgh RDM Strategy Establishment of IS RDM Steering and Action group High profile ‘champion’– Peter Clark (Professor of Physics at the University of Edinburgh & CERN Fellow) IS RDM Action group working on service implementation plans • Data management support • Data management planning • Active data infrastructure • Data stewardship Pilot studies with research groups • feedback into service implementation plans re. tools and services • who to engage with • Case studies RDM Awareness Raising sessions with library & information professionals Services Roadmap
Engagement tools Data Asset Framework (DCC/HATII) – http://www.data-audit.eu/ provides organisations with the means to: - find out what data assets are being created and held within institutions - explore how those data are stored, managed, shared and reused - identify any risks e.g. misuse, data loss or irretrievability - learn about researchers’ attitudes towards data creation and sharing - suggest ways to improve ongoing data management.
Data Curation Profiles Toolkit (Purdue University) http://datacurationprofiles.org/ Data Curation Profiles can: • provide a guide for discussing data with researchers • give insight into areas of attention in data management • help assess information needs related to data collections • give insight into differences between data in various disciplines • help identify possible data services • create a starting point for curating a data set for archiving and preservation
‘Librarians will need to move beyond our focus on researchers’ needs as information consumers, and work towards building awareness of their disciplinary and sub-disciplinary information cultures and norms ..…. acquiring this depth of knowledge needs to be made a pre-requisite before new infrastructures or services for research data are developed. Conducting data interviews with researchers is one approach towards achieving this foundational understanding.’ Jake Carlson (2012)
FIN !! All Images by PropagandaTimes - Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY- NC-ND 2.0) REFERENCES: Jake Carlson, (2012) "Demystifying the data interview: Developing a foundation for reference librarians to talk with researchers about their data", Reference Services Review, Vol. 40 Iss: 1, pp.7 – 23 Kristin Partlo (2009) “The pedagogical data reference interview”, IASSIST Quarterly, Vol. 33 Iss: Winter, pp.6 – 10 - http://www.iassistdata.org/downloads/iqvol334_341partlo.pdf

More Related Content

Engaging the Researcher in RDM

  • 1. Engaging the researcher in RDM Stuart Macdonald Associate Data Librarian EDINA National Data Centre & Edinburgh University Data Library Stuart.Macdonald@ed.ac.uk ANDS Data interviews webinar 13 August 2012
  • 2. EDINA and University Data Library (EDL) together are a division within Information Services of the University of Edinburgh. EDINA is a JISC-funded National Data Centre providing national online resources for education and research. The Data Library assists Edinburgh University users in the discovery, access, use and management of research datasets.
  • 3. What is a Data Library A data library refers to both the content and the services that foster use of collections of numeric, audio- visual, textual or geospatial data sets for secondary use in research. Focus on re-use of data Building relationships with researchers via PG teaching activities, research support projects, IS Skills workshops, Research Data Management training and through traditional reference interviews.
  • 4. Data Reference Interview 1 hour appointment to discuss research question / context Establish whether data the researcher requires is available, suitable level of granularity , suitable and accessible format, assess licensing, cost, use conditions, software dependency Research Data sharing via research data repository Edinburgh DataShare - embargo, keywords, licenses (ODC), formatting, documentation, depositor agreement, copyright, dataset associated with publication
  • 5. RIN Disciplinary Case Studies: understanding the information needs of life science researchers (Oct. 2008 – July 2009) Seven case studies were conducted across a diverse range of laboratories and research groups from botany to clinical neuroscience. http://tinyurl.com/d9j3yxs Deployed a range of qualtitative methods and tools designed to ‘enhance understanding of how researchers locate, evaluate, organise, manage, transform and communicate information sources as an integrated part of the research process’. 5-day information diaries (x55) F-2-F interviews, (x24) Focus groups (1 per case)
  • 6. Interviewing researchers – considerations Research data can be much more complex than the post-publication content that librarians typically encounter. The data interview should be driven by the researcher and guided by the interviewer / librarian What constitutes data may be interpreted differently by different people at different times in different contexts Research data will have discrete issues or challenges associated with them thus it is important that the research data that are the subject of the interview are clearly defined
  • 7. Interviewing researchers – considerations • Identify base level of knowledge about domain-specific research process (librarian) • Identify base level of knowledge about research data management (researcher) • Iron out ambiguities / domain-specific jargon as definitions may differ across disciplines • Use the ‘research data lifecycle’ as a framing device: Plan, Create, Use, Appraise, Publish, Discover, Re-use
  • 8. University of Edinburgh RDM Strategy Establishment of IS RDM Steering and Action group High profile ‘champion’– Peter Clark (Professor of Physics at the University of Edinburgh & CERN Fellow) IS RDM Action group working on service implementation plans • Data management support • Data management planning • Active data infrastructure • Data stewardship Pilot studies with research groups • feedback into service implementation plans re. tools and services • who to engage with • Case studies RDM Awareness Raising sessions with library & information professionals Services Roadmap
  • 9. Engagement tools Data Asset Framework (DCC/HATII) – http://www.data-audit.eu/ provides organisations with the means to: - find out what data assets are being created and held within institutions - explore how those data are stored, managed, shared and reused - identify any risks e.g. misuse, data loss or irretrievability - learn about researchers’ attitudes towards data creation and sharing - suggest ways to improve ongoing data management.
  • 10. Data Curation Profiles Toolkit (Purdue University) http://datacurationprofiles.org/ Data Curation Profiles can: • provide a guide for discussing data with researchers • give insight into areas of attention in data management • help assess information needs related to data collections • give insight into differences between data in various disciplines • help identify possible data services • create a starting point for curating a data set for archiving and preservation
  • 11. ‘Librarians will need to move beyond our focus on researchers’ needs as information consumers, and work towards building awareness of their disciplinary and sub-disciplinary information cultures and norms ..…. acquiring this depth of knowledge needs to be made a pre-requisite before new infrastructures or services for research data are developed. Conducting data interviews with researchers is one approach towards achieving this foundational understanding.’ Jake Carlson (2012)
  • 12. FIN !! All Images by PropagandaTimes - Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY- NC-ND 2.0) REFERENCES: Jake Carlson, (2012) "Demystifying the data interview: Developing a foundation for reference librarians to talk with researchers about their data", Reference Services Review, Vol. 40 Iss: 1, pp.7 – 23 Kristin Partlo (2009) “The pedagogical data reference interview”, IASSIST Quarterly, Vol. 33 Iss: Winter, pp.6 – 10 - http://www.iassistdata.org/downloads/iqvol334_341partlo.pdf

Editor's Notes

  1. 30 yearsTradition in North America coupled to large research-driven universitiesLess so in UK (2 institutions)Rare in mainland Europe where data centre is preferred model
  2. DCC, Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation, Information services
  3. Data mining, geo-tagging, geo-referencing, time-series, CC TV filmThese complexities can present a potential barrier for librarians seeking to engage in discussions with researchers about managing, sharing, and curating their data. Remind ourselves that the purpose of data interviews are to ascertain RDM practices with a view to improvementBenefits of managing data – meet funder / university / industry requirementsEnsure data are accurate, authentic and reliable (as per good research practice)Ensure research integrity and replicationMinimise data lossIncrease efficiency (time and resources)Ensure data available for re-use18thC meterological observations are now used by environmental scientists to gauge climate change or can be used by historians to verify time-specific factual or anecdotal evidence
  4. To prompt the researcher to define and describe the data him or herself
  5. The JISC Managing Research Data Programme 2011-13 has funded four projects to design, pilot and test training materials for research data management adapted for the needs of discipline-focussed post-graduate courses and for subject or discipline liaison librarians.Awareness and advocacy activitiesTailored online data management guidanceTraining & consultancyData management planning support / planning toolData store / Data access servicesSynchronisation servicesCollaboration and versioning toolsCentral database serviceData archive serviceData Asset RegisterData RepositoryPURE – CRIS integrated with other university systems (research office, records management units etc)