Research data management practice in higher education institutions in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
Alehegn Adane Kinde ◽  
Assefa Chekole Addis ◽  
Getachew Gedamu Abebe
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Grant

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a range of perspectives on the relationship between research data and records and between recordkeeping and research data management. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses literature in the field of research data management as part of preliminary work for the author’s doctoral research on the topic. The literature included in the review reflects contemporary and historical perspectives on the management and preservation of research data. Findings Preliminary findings indicate that records professionals have been involved in the management and preservation of research data since the early twentieth century. In the literature, research data is described as comparable to records, and records professionals are widely acknowledged to have skills and expertise which are applicable to research data management. Records professionals are one of a number of professions addressing research data management. However, they are not currently considered to be leaders in research data management practice. Originality/value Research data management is an emerging challenge as stakeholders in the research lifecycle increasingly mandate the publication of open, transparent research. Recent developments such as the publication of the OCLC report “The Archival Advantage: Integrating Archival Expertise into Management of Born-digital Library Materials”, and the creation of the Research Data Alliance Interest Group Archives and Records Professionals for Research Data indicates that research data is, or can be, within the remit of records professionals. This paper represents a snapshot of contemporary and historical attitudes towards research data and recordkeeping and thus contributes to this emerging area of discussion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-133
Author(s):  
Laura Molloy ◽  
Simon Hodson ◽  
Meik Poschen ◽  
Jonathan Tedds

The work of the Jisc Managing Research Data programme is – along with the rest of the UK higher education sector – taking place in an environment of increasing pressure on research funding. In order to justify the investment made by Jisc in this activity – and to help make the case more widely for the value of investing time and money in research data management – individual projects and the programme as a whole must be able to clearly express the resultant benefits to the host institutions and to the broader sector. This paper describes a structured approach to the measurement and description of benefits provided by the work of these projects for the benefit of funders, institutions and researchers. We outline the context of the programme and its work; discuss the drivers and challenges of gathering evidence of benefits; specify benefits as distinct from aims and outputs; present emerging findings and the types of metrics and other evidence which projects have provided; explain the value of gathering evidence in a structured way to demonstrate benefits generated by work in this field; and share lessons learned from progress to date.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatimah Jibril Abduldayan ◽  
Fasola Petunola Abifarin ◽  
Georgina Uchey Oyedum ◽  
Jibril Attahiru Alhassan

Purpose The purpose of this study was to understand the research data management practices of chemistry researchers in the five specialized federal universities of technology in Nigeria. Appropriate research data management practice ensures that research data are available for reuse by secondary users, and research findings can be verified and replicated within the scientific community. A poor research data management practice can lead to irrecoverable data loss, unavailability of data to support research findings and lack of trust in the research process. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory research technique involving semi-structured, oral and face-to-face interview is used to gather data on research data management practices of chemistry researchers in Nigeria. Interview questions were divided into four major sections covering chemistry researchers’ understanding of research data, experience with data loss, data storage method and backup techniques, data protection, data preservation and availability of data management plan. Braun and Clarke thematic analysis approach was adapted, and the Provalis Qualitative Data Miner (version 5) software was used for generating themes and subthemes from the coding framework and for presenting the findings. Findings Findings revealed that chemistry researchers in Nigeria have a good understanding of the concept of research data and its importance to research findings. Chemistry researchers have had several experiences of irrecoverable loss of data because of poor choice of storage devices, back-up methods and weak data protection systems. Even though the library was agreed as the most preferred place for long-term data preservation, there is the issue of trust and fear of loss of ownership of data to unauthorized persons or party. No formal data management plan is used while conducting their scientific research. Research limitations/implications The research focused on research data management practices of chemistry researchers in the five specialized federal universities of technology in Nigeria. Although the findings of the study are similar to perceptions and practices of researchers around the world, it cannot be used as a basis for generalization across other scientific disciplines. Practical implications This study concluded that chemistry researchers need further orientation and continuous education on the importance and benefits of appropriate research data management practice. The library should also roll out research data management programs to guide researchers and improve their confidence throughout the research process. Social implications Appropriate research data management practice not only ensures that the underlying research data are true and available for reuse and re-validation, but it also encourages data sharing among researchers. Data sharing will help to ensure better collaboration among researchers and increased visibility of the datasets and data owners through the use of standard data citations and acknowledgements. Originality/value This is a qualitative and in-depth study of research data management practices and perceptions among researchers in a particular scientific field of study.


Author(s):  
Madhavi Arun Vaidya ◽  
Meghana Sanjeeva

Research, which is an integral part of higher education, is undergoing a metamorphosis. Researchers across disciplines are increasingly utilizing electronic tools to collect, analyze, and organize data. This “data deluge” creates a need to develop policies, infrastructures, and services in organisations, with the objective of assisting researchers in creating, collecting, manipulating, analysing, transporting, storing, and preserving datasets. Research is now conducted in the digital realm, with researchers generating and exchanging data among themselves. Research data management in context with library data could also be treated as big data without doubt due its properties of large volume, high velocity, and obvious variety. To sum up, it can be said that big datasets need to be more useful, visible, and accessible. With new and powerful analytics of big data, such as information visualization tools, researchers can look at data in new ways and mine it for information they intend to have.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-227
Author(s):  
Tom Drysdale

Research is a core function of cultural heritage organisations. Inevitably, the undertaking of research by galleries, libraries, archives and museums (the GLAM sector) leads to the creation of vast quantities of research data. Yet despite growing recognition that research data must be managed if it is to be exploited effectively, and in spite of increasing understanding of research data management practices and needs, particularly in the higher education sector, knowledge of research data management in cultural heritage organisations remains extremely limited. This paper represents an attempt to address the limited awareness of research data management in the cultural heritage sector. It presents the results of a data management audit conducted at Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) in 2018. The study reveals that research data management at HRP is underdeveloped, while highlighting some causes for optimism. The results of the study are compared to the results of similar studies conducted in UK higher education institutions (HEIs), highlighting the many discrepancies in the ways that research data is managed at HRP and in the HE sector. Recognition of these differences and similarities, it is argued, is necessary for the development of better research data management practices and tools for the heritage sector.


Author(s):  
Svitlana Chukanova

With the rapid development of the concept of Open Science, the quantitative growth of data obtained during the research, scientific attention to the practice of research data management (research data management) increases, which actualizes the definition of “research data” and identifying types of research data within the practice of their management, justification and coverage of the specifics of such data. The methodological tools of the study are based on the terminological method, the use of which was due to the need to identify relevant interpretations of the concept of “research data”, as well as analysis of repositories for data from various fields of science, indexed by re3data.org., in the general areas presented in the register, namely: descriptions of repositories, including information on the types of data deposited by scientists and data curators. The analysis made it possible to define research data as materials obtained and collected to substantiate the scientific results of research in any field and in any form: numerical, textual, computer code, etc., as well as to identify types of data specific to different branches of science, which, in turn, allowed us to conclude the existing data formats, the most common among both natural and human sciences: text, numerical and graphic formats. As a result of the analysis, it was found that research data can be considered textual, numerical, software, archival, graphic and other objects (files) that serve as the basis of the study and the factual basis for scientific conclusions in a particular field of science. It was found that the type of data directly depends on the nature of the study and the characteristics of the discipline or field of research.


Author(s):  
Fabian Cremer ◽  
Silvia Daniel ◽  
Marina Lemaire ◽  
Katrin Moeller ◽  
Matthias Razum ◽  
...  

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