Results of UEL survey on managing research data Stephen Grace, Research Services Librarian

About the survey When: 29 Nov 2 – 20 Jan13 Who – invited all academic staff/PGR students through their Deans Used free Lime Surveys software (had technical issues with UEL installation) Offered two £50 Amazon vouchers as incentive Got 51 completed answers (one was me) and 56 incomplete ones Based on several others from elsewhere – see blog post for details blog post

Who are you [n=51] PhD researcher 22 (31.43%) Postdoctoral researcher 0 (0.00%) Research Fellow 3 (4.29%) Lecturer-Researcher 25 (35.71%) Senior research group leader/PI 8 (11.43%) Other 9 (12.86%)

Response by School

What types of data do UEL researchers create?

Who owns the data?

2.1 In accordance with UK law (and in common with other universities), we will own all Intellectual Property generated by our employees in the course of their employment. [Exclusions for personal use/ teaching and for scholarly works] UEL Policy on Intellectual Property, May 2009

Where is the data stored?

Backups?

Guidelines on managing data?   

Who do you share data with?

How have you shared data?

Reasons to share data

Reasons NOT to share data “I see no reason to NOT share data”, “I will share it”, “No reason not to share it”, “No reason not to share”, No reason”

Potential for reuse of your data? Strongly disagree Strongly agree Neutral

Issues with creating/managing?

Issues with sharing?

Problems with old data files?

Ever lost data? Yes No

What support are you aware of?

Support at UEL – responses none NONE none None None. None Not aware. None none Not aware None I am not aware of any support None other than the IT helpdesk roar and research pages I know of ROAR […] Also, I wonder whether the support might be limited too? Increased network storage, legal and DP FOI advice, reds knows some strong data protection, and security School- centred research groups, and colleagues. I assume the grad school would be able to support me if necessary. I have supervisors who will be able to point me in the right direction should i9it become an issue Expect some level of support if I seek it it has not been well communicated so far. It is perceived to be a new function created to serve the REF2014 I have in the past had help with data analysis both from grant funded statisticians, UEL academic staff, occasional courses, online sites and text books. I continue to value such advice and support but it seems to me that few of the present courses offered by staff development address the needs of researchers

Who to turn to – FOI request?

Who to turn to – preserve data?

Who to turn to – reuse of someone else’s data?

What RDM support do you want? Guidance Training Help with DMPs Storage

What RDM support do you want? Date management is an important and fast-developing area, and the university needs to be far more pro-active, especially making use of the latest software, supporting research staff, and ensuring that knowledge is shared effectively, but ensuring that the researcher is not sidelined in terms of ownership. Not enough time or emphasis is given to data generation by teaching staff. It remains within the remit of 'pure research' staff, thereby overlooking the valuable skills that exist amongst the workforce. give us some training We all do things in different ways. There is no one means to manage and share diverse collections of research data. after 7 years at UEL, this is the first I have been made aware of this. I have never been able to establish remote access to UEL drives which makes data analysis and storage difficult. I would like further guidance on how to do this effectively. I would also like to see a secure site where I can share my data with my supervisors rather than having to them large files. There is a lack of guidance on research data management and storage particularly in relation to student work. I have no doubt that data storage and ownership has always been an issue within academe. But as this survey identifies, there is a need for systematic systems for managing and sharing data to be put in place within UEL […]

In conclusion Researchers, both staff and students, struggle with managing their research data They want help and guidance from UEL LLS is well placed to offer data management support, building on existing services The TraD project is funded by Jisc Datamanagementuel.wordpress.com