1. Responsibilities & Research Record-Keeping Methods Doug Welch Sep 23, 2008 SGS101 – Part 3

2. Principles OwnershipResponsibilityOrganization Standard of recording Preservation of intermediate results Routine backup of research information Communication with supervisor

3. Ownership Intellectual property (IP) issues aren’t as straightforward as you might think! McMaster has a policy document entitled “Ownership of Student Work” http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ownstwrk.htm Bottom line: only your completed thesis is clearly owned by you!

4. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

5. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

6. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

7. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

8. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

9. Student Responsibilities “Students (Undergraduate and Graduate) 11. Students are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes: a)following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work, b)asking for clarification of expectations as necessary, c)identifying testing situations that may allow copying, d)preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files, and e)adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.” Academic Integrity Policy, McMaster University, approved Mar 13, 2002

10. Bottom Line You are responsible for your actions Research integrity is not an option Your research affects not only you but also members of your research group, your supervisor, collaborators, and potentially a much wider public You have an obligation to ask for clarifications when you are unsure.

11. Organization Evaluate the ensemble of information which you must track and record Determine a location (written/electronic) where this organizational info will be recorded Adopt a consistent pattern of recording intermediate results and archiving important data … and stick to it!

12. Standard of Recording Date and location of each entry in a numbered-page logbook Paste printouts/plots into logbook Record key information regarding electronic transactions in logbook Similar advice applies to any sort of research record. Example for Lab Science Work

13. Intermediate Results The greatest danger posed by the use of computers is the loss of intermediate results CD-RW/DVD for binary records Extracts/headers to logbook for large files “What information would I need to repeat this or show that I did this?”

14. Routine Backups Disk-to-disk (same machine) Disk-to-disk (different room/building) Work-to-home Write to offline media Be very, very paranoid! Setup automatic job Test routinely (first thing Monday) Label!

15. Communication with Supervisor You have an obligation to communicate details of your research records to your supervisor Your supervisor has an obligation to examine and test your research records If this isn’t currently happening, make sure that it starts to happen! Do “line-by-line traceback” of manuscripts

16. “Subversion” Available for many operating systems “Repository” – never go there! Encourages/requires recording of intermediate versions of work Allows you to “back out” to previous state Allows documentation of each change Manuscripts/program code/anything text

17. Benefits You can “check out” all of the required files into a new directory and work on them without endangering the “originals” Prevents collaborator “bottlenecks” Allows multiple workers to interact with the same project asynchronously Removal of e-mail or website as an intermediary

18. Where to find Subversion http://subversion.tigris.org Ask your supervisor/colleagues what record-keeping software or standards are appropriate for your field. Be a leader, not a follower! You will likely be a supervisor yourself in the not too distant future!