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Research Data Management (RDM): Basics

Research Guide

Data Defined

What are research data?
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Image Source: W.Rebel commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABinaryData50.png

Research Data encompass  ⇒

"...facts, observations, images, computer program results, recordings, measurements or experiences on which an argument, theory, test or hypothesis, or another research output is based.  Data may be numerical, descriptive, visual or tactile.  It may be raw, cleaned or processed, and may be held in any format or media."

Source: Queensland University of Technology. mopp.qut.edu.au/D/D_02_08.jsp

Why Data Matter

"From Kepler using Tycho Brahe’s data to build a heliocentric model of the solar system, to the birth of statistical quantum mechanics, to Darwin’s theory of evolution, to the modern theory of the gene, every major scientific revolution has been driven by one thing, and that is data.”

John Quackenbush, Prof. Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Harvard School of Public Health

Data Management Definition and Life Cycle

What is Research Data Management?

The management of data throughout the scholarly life cycle -- from creation to preservation and to possible re-use.

 

One View of the Data Life Cycle
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Image Source:  K. Briney. Data Management for Researchers