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Research Data Services

Data services at UNO Libraries.

The Data

Questions to consider about your data

  • Is your data newly created, or is it drawing from another study/experiment?
  • How much data will there be? (megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, etc.)
  • Will / how much will it grow / change over time? 
  • What type / form of data is being produced (numeric, geospatial, graphical, etc.)
  • What are the file formats? 
Preferred Format Discouraged Format
.csv (comma separated values) .xls (Excel)
.txt (plain text) .doc, .docx (Word)
.pdf (Adobe PDF) .ppt (PowerPoint)
.tif / .tiff (TIFF)

.psd (Photoshop)

.mp4 (MPEG-4) .mov (Apple Quicktime)

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Who is responsible for collecting the data? 
  • Who is responsible for data integrity and management?
  • In cases where funders are involved, do they have specific data management requirements? 

Access and Use

  • Is there a metadata or ontology for describing your data in your community? If not, is there a metadata standard you've used in the past that you are comfortable with?
  • Are there special tools or software necessary to create, read, or process data? How are tools or software managed or upgraded?
  • Are there special privacy or security requirements?

Sharing

  • Do you plan to publish the data? 
  • Are there any sharing requirements from the funder?
  • How do you plan to handle copyright or data re-use by others?

Storage and Preservation

  • How do you plan to document your project? What tools, software, etc., will you use to manage your documentation? 
  • How long should the data and accompanying software and documentation be retained? How do you plan to ensure long-term access? 
  • Is there a data repository in your community? Do you plan to store your data there? Where else do you plan to store data?
  • How often is your data backed up? Should it be stored in several locations? 

Costs

  • What are the estimated costs of obtaining, preparing, documenting, and archiving the data? 
  • Will these costs be covered by the funder? If not, how will costs be covered?