Research Data Management: some basic concepts

Hernán Santa Cruz Library has been actively participating in LEARN, Activating Leaders Research Networks, project funded by the European Commission.

The  purpose of LEARN is to create awareness about Research Data Management (RDM) among different communities related to research. Here you are some key definitions to help understand this topic .

What is Data Management Research?

RDM is related to the handling of data, from its entry into the life cycle of an investigation to dissemination and archiving of valuable results. One of the main objectives is to ensure the verification of the results of an investigation.

It refers to those activities related to the active management of data while they still have academic, scientific, administrative and personal interests, in order to facilitate their reproduction, reuse. To add value, the data are managed from creation until it is determined that they are no longer useful, ensuring long-term preservation, authenticity and integrity accessibility.

In summary, it is a proactive management of data generated in the lifecycle of an investigation and its results, in order to make them visible, available, secure, sharable and useful.

What are the research data?

•     All the data that are created by researchers in the course of their work, and for which the institution is responsible.

•     Third party data that may have been created within the institution elsewhere.

•     Evidence of the hypotheses or research questions that arise, regardless of format (printed, digital or physical)

•     Quantitative or qualitative information collected through experimentation, observation, modeling, interviews and other research methods.

What are some of the benefits that Data Management Research?

•     Economic growth and social benefit - efficient use of public resources

•     Transparency - Increased public confidence in research

•     Responsibility to ensure that data is properly managed and accessible, intelligible, assessable and usable by others

•     Raising the standard of research and protection of good research practices

•     The results of the research can be subjected to scrutiny, tested, validated, replicated or reproduced.

•     Improve access and exchange data

•     Cooperation and networking among researchers.

Do you want to know more?

Contact us at biblioteca@cepal.org and do not miss the Fourth Workshop on Research  Data Management, entitled "Implementation of policies and strategies in Latin America and the Caribbean", to be held at ECLAC on October 27 in Santiago, Chile. You will have the opportunity to attend to conferences and panels and see experiences and progress in the region.

Register now! ://learn-rdm.eu/es/talleres-learn/iv-taller-learn/programa/

Sources:

JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee)
Research Data Network Glossary. https://research-data-network.readme.io/docs/glossary

LEARN (Leaders Activating Research Networks)
Project- Glossary. ://learn-rdm.eu/en/dissemination/glossary/

LERU  (League of European Research Universities)
LERU Roadmap for Research Data. ://learn-rdm.eu/en/outputs/project-materials/