This guide is intended to support the
A formal DMP helps researchers plan their study project and data before, during, and after research project. It aims to collect, document, make accessible, and preserve data for future use.
In all research data lifecycle phases, the DMP should address these questions.
“How do I manage my data during this phase?”
“What type of data am I creating & managing?”
“How long do I store the data and how will
the process of assigning a unique identifier to each piece of data. This identifier can be used to track data over time and across different systems.
the process of storing and organizing digital information for future access. Data storage can be network-based, allowing multiple users and locations to access the data.
The process of setting on how your data would be extracting data from internal and external sources. Data can be used for a variety of purposes, including risk management, portfolio management, and other business objectives.
The process to ensure that data is accurate and consistent so that the results of analytics, visualizations, and business intelligence applications are valid. The process to identify and fix data issues that otherwise might not be detected.
Simply said, metadata is data about data. It enables anyone who is interested in your data understand what it is and how to use it. Consider it an instruction manual that provides all of the facts about your data, allowing others to easily discover it and learn how to utilize it without having to contact you directly.
Metadata are more useful when standards are used, enabling easier use and comparison by researchers in the relevant discipline. If you are sharing your data in a repository, then the metadata standards used will vary between repositories.
| No | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Title | A name given to the resource. |
| 2 | Subject | The topic of the resource. | 3 | Description | An account of the resource. |
| 4 | Creator | An entity primarily responsible for making the resource. |
| 5 | Publisher | An entity responsible for making the resource available. |
| 6 | Contributor | An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource. |
| 7 | Subject | A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource. |
| 8 | Type | The nature or genre of the resource. |
| 9 | Format | The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource. |
| 10 | Identifier | An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. |
| 11 | Source | A related resource from which the described resource is derived. |
| 12 | Language | A language of the resource. |
| 13 | Relation | A related resource. |
| 14 | Coverage | The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant. |
| 15 | Rights | Information about rights held in and over the resource. |
| Data Type | Original Data Format | Recommended Formats |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Hand-written, docx, wpd, odt, rtf, txt, html, xml, pdf | xml, PDF/A, txt |
| Tabular Simple | csv, tsv, pipe-delimited, xls(x), ods, dif, xps | csv |
| Tabular Extensive | sav (SPSS), sas7bdat or xpt (SAS), dta (STATA) | csv, txt with setup file or associated script (r or m) |
| Database | mdb, dbf, sql, sqlite, db, db3, xml | xml, sqlite |
| Visual | static: pdf, jpeg, tiff, png, gif, bmp, moving: mpeg, mov, avi, mxf | PDF/A, tiff, JPEG2000, MPEG-4 | Audio | wav(e), mp3, mp2, aiff, wma, aac, dct, flac, ogg | wave,aiff | Image | JPEG (.jpeg, .jpg, .jp2) if original created in this format, GIF (.gif), TIFF other versions (.tif, .tiff), RAW image format (.raw), Photoshop files (.psd), BMP (.bmp), PNG (.png), Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF/A, PDF) (.pdf) | TIFF 6.0 uncompressed (.tif) |
As a researcher, you should identify the likely retention period for your data as early as possible in the research and ensure that requirements for retention and disposal are met.You must also ensure that actions and decisions taken during the project facilitate long-term or permanent retention for data with enduring value to the research community or of wider public interest.
Your research data needs to be kept for as long as required to:
The destruction of data must be irreversible with no chance of recovery later. Digital data should be destroyed by deleting or overwriting information, purging magnetic media through degaussing (exposure to a strong magnetic field), or destroying the physical media.
Paper can be shredded using secure shredding. Extra care should be taken with sensitive or confidential information where a secure paper destruction service must be used.
In all cases records relating to what was destroyed, when and how should be retained.
If you think that your data may be a candidate for long-term or permanent retention, you should be aware that decisions made at an early stage of the research project can limit your later ability to retain data in a usable form. For example:
Research data that is going to be retained permanently should be deposited in UiTM Research Data Repository.
(Source: Monash University, 2018)
Researcher should clarify ownership of and rights relating to research data before a project starts. Ownership and rights will determine how the data can be managed in the future, so these should be documented early in a project through data management planning.