LibGuides: Data Management Plans for Research: Data Management Plan Basics

About this LibGuide

The contents of this LibGuide are largely adapted from the documentation provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and AUS's Office of Research.

Be sure to confirm that our recommendations meet or conform to the requirements of the specific funding agency you're applying to.

Your Librarian

Librarians serve as a point of contact for faculty and will be glad to answer questions about library collections, student instruction sessions, reserves, etc.

Please contact the librarians assigned to your department for assistance.

Departmental Liaisons

What is a Data Management Plan?

A Data Management Plan (DMP; you may also see the acronym RDM or Research Data Management) is a short written document that outlines how data will be collected, documented, organized, shared and preserved during a research project and after it is completed.

It answers the following questions:

What types of data will you collect?
What format(s) will the data be in?
What will your policies be for sharing the data?
What will your policies be for the dissemination and re-use of the data?
How will you archive the data?

If you'd like to take a more in depth look into Data Management Plans and Research Data Management, try these online resources:

MANTRA
MANTRA is a free, online non-assessed course with guidelines to help you understand and reflect on how to manage the digital data you collect throughout your research. It has been crafted for the use of post-graduate students, early career researchers, and also information professionals. It is freely available on the web for anyone to explore on their own.
DataOne Primer on Data Management
The goal of data management is to produce self-describing data sets. If you give your data to a scientist or colleague who has not been involved with your project, will they be able to make sense of it? Will they be able to use it effectively and properly? This primer describes a few fundamental data management practices that will enable you to develop a data management plan, as well as how to effectively create, organize, manage, describe, preserve and share data.
Coursera MOOC on Data Management
This course will provide learners with an introduction to research data management and sharing. After completing this course, learners will understand the diversity of data and their management needs across the research data lifecycle, be able to identify the components of good data management plans, and be familiar with best practices for working with data including the organization, documentation, and storage and security of data. Learners will also understand the impetus and importance of archiving and sharing data as well as how to assess the trustworthiness of repositories.
Research Data Management Glossary

Why do I need a Data Management Plan?

The simplest answer for why you need a Data Management Plan is because so many funding agencies, including AUS, require them to be included in your proposals. Other than that, having a Data Management Plan in place and implementing it:

helps researchers optimize their use of data
makes collaborating with other researchers easier
ensures data is preserved for future researchers after the project has finished.
help researchers make longitudinal comparisons
allows researchers to verify, and more easily replicate, results
decreases scholarly fraud
reduces redundant research and encourages replication instead of duplication.

How can the library help with my Data Management Plan?

The library can help you with your Data Management Plan in a few ways:

First of all, obviously, we have assembled this LibGuide as step one to assist you!

Second, contact your liaison librarian for one-on-one support and assistance in writing your Data Management Plan.

Third, the library can help you archive and make accessible your data as part of the implementation of your Data Management Plan. Whether you would like to house physical records in our Archives, where the AUS community can access them, or we may be able to house your data in our Institutional Repository, DSpace, depending on the format.

Liaison Librarians
Librarians serve as a point of contact for faculty and will be glad to answer questions about library collections, student instruction sessions, reserves, etc.
This page lists the librarians assigned to your department and their contact information.
AUS Archives
The American University of Sharjah (AUS) Archives is a department within the AUS library. It is the repository for the institutional records that are created by the various academic and administrative departments of the university. The mission of the Archives is to collect, maintain, preserve, and make available records that are of historical or legal value, as well as records that document the development of the university and the various campus activities.

DSpace at AUS This link opens in a new window
DSpace is the American University of Sharjah's Institutional Repository containing master's theses, student projects, faculty publications, and more.

What types of Data could be included?

Any materials generated or collected during the course of conducting research. This could be different depending on various disciplines and contexts.

Examples include:

Quantitative data
Blood samples
Physical collections
Software/code
Interview transcripts
Geographic information
Questionnaires
Code books
Descriptions of methodologies