Updates Related to Recent Executive Orders

Data Management

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Data Management

Responsible data management includes the entire lifecycle of data. While good data stewardship is a hallmark of responsible research, university and sponsor requirements also prescribe the data management and sharing expectations.

Many sponsors such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and other granting agencies require a Data Management and Sharing Plan to outline steps that will be taken to collect, secure, and maintain data with integrity. These plans typically define elements such as

  • the type of data you are collecting or working with;
  • related tools, software and/or code;
  • standards, data preservation, access;
  • associated timelines, distribution, or reuse considerations; and
  • oversight of data management and sharing.

If you are obtaining a data set from another entity, a Data Use Agreement (DUA) will be needed. A DUA is an agreement between one party to another which describes how to access, store, protect, use and transmit data types such as Protected Health Information. It is important to know that only certain individuals who have signature authority within the University are permitted to sign a DUA, per Policy FN11 and Guideline FNG02.

Practical Application and Best Practices

Prior to collecting data, create and follow a consistent, easy to use index to identify, interpret and find the data. Follow standards to ensure the data is FAIR (credit: https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618).

  • Findable
    • Well-described using standards
    • Index data as searchable resources
  • Accessible
    • Assign persistent identifiers
    • Retrieve datasets according to an open protocol that supports authentication
    • Citable
    • Reliable storage
    • Preserves data files and metadata
  • Interoperable
    • Standard & open formats, where possible
    • Formats observe good preservation practices
  • Reuseable
    • Provenance and versions are tracked
    • Allows application of license and/or clear terms of use

Be a responsible data steward:

    • Implement and follow sponsor-specific Data Management and Sharing Plan requirements.
    • Adhere to Penn State’s Policy RP15 on Data Management.
    • Consider leveraging the Libraries Research Data Service, which provides consultations, training, and resources to all campus users at no cost.
    • Review the Guidance for Managing Research Data, which is intended to provide general practices to assist researchers in complying with University, federal, and other sponsor policies and requirements related to data management and sharing. which is intended to provide general practices to assist researchers in complying with University, federal, and other sponsor policies and requirements related to data management and sharing.  which is intended to provide general practices to assist researchers in complying with University, federal, and other sponsor policies and requirements related to data management and sharing.

Importance

Proper data management and sharing ensure rigorous and reproducible results, which contribute to the integrity of research. 

Data Management Diagram, includes: Envision, Plan, Generate/Acquire, Process/Analyze, Share/Use Reuse, and Preserve/Discard.

https://libguides.asu.edu/data/storage

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