Data Management Best Practices

[Pages:24]Research Data Management Best Practices

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Planning & Data Management Plans ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Naming and Organizing Your Files .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Choosing File Formats ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 Working with Tabular Data ................................................................................................................................................... 10 Describing Your Data: Data Dictionaries ............................................................................................................................... 12 Describing Your Project: Citation Metadata ......................................................................................................................... 15 Preparing for Storage and Preservation ............................................................................................................................... 17 Choosing a Repository .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Glossary................................................................................................................................................................................. 22

Research Data Management Best Practices

2018-02-28

INTRODUCTION

The following best practices are intended for use by Smithsonian researchers and affiliated staff who plan for, create, and/or work with digital research data. Additional information about available tools, policies, and resources for managing research data can be found on .

There are many phases in the research data lifecycle and they do not always occur in the tidy order pictured in the diagram (left). These best practices are designed to improve overall management of data at each point in the lifecycle, resulting in published data that are not only easy to care for long after the project is complete, but that are also findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

The Smithsonian has other resources that can contribute to effective data management including software and high performance computing provided by OCIO, and training and planning consultation services from the Libraries. Contact AskaLibrarian@si.edu for more information.

SI also has two locally managed repositories that accept research data for publication and/or archiving:

SIdora ? is best for larger, or more complicated datasets, including actively updated datasets. To deposit data in SIdora contact Beth Stern or email si-sidora@si.edu

Smithsonian Research Online (SRO) ? is best for smaller ( ................
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