GUEST BLOG POST FROM LAURIAN WILLIAMSON, RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT CO-ORDINATOR
In April I attended the excellent History
DMT (Data Management Training and Guidance) workshop held at the Humanities Research Institute which
explored best practice for research data management (RDM) in history. History
DMT is an AHRC-funded project, led by the Institute of Historical Research in
collaboration with the Department of History, University of Hull and the
Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield.
One of major project outputs will be a free online training
course dedicated to the research data types that historians are most likely to
come across in their research. This training course will be made publicly
available in 2014. Delegates were given an opportunity to comment and provide
feedback on the content and format of the online training course and I am
eagerly looking forward to its launch.
During the workshop
several presentations from researchers highlighted for me the diverse types of
research data created and managed by this community, which included:
·
Textual materials
·
Visual sources
·
Oral History
·
Statistical data
I was also a timely reminder that when we (the TUoS RDM Service
Delivery Group) are planning for the delivery of researcher-focused RDM
services and support the challenge is to ensure that we are catering for
different subject disciplines and working practices.
At the start of your research project or activity (whether
externally funded or not) you will need to consider the management of your
research data. Research data can be textual, numerical, qualitative,
quantitative, final, preliminary, physical, digital or print.
Thinking about RDM early on in the research process will
allow you to plan for:
·
Organising and structuring your material
·
Storing and backing up your research material
·
Preparing material for analysis, or to share
with others
A couple of useful RDM training resources to explore further
are listed below. If you would like the RDM team to visit your research group
or department to talk about RDM requirements, training, and advocacy please do
let us know. Contact us via the RDM
helpdesk.
