Basics of Research Organization

Alicia Hofelich Mohr & Allison Langham-Putrow

Alicia Hofelich Mohr, Ph.D.

Research Support Coordinator, LATIS

Background: Cognitive Psychology, Statistics

Research: Included multi-method work on depression and empathy

Data confession: I was recently asked for raw data from one of my first studies (collected over 10 years ago). The only copy I had was on an old hard drive (bad!)… and my file names were confusing (worse!). But after a few hours of hunting I found it and then promptly went on a backup spree.

Allison Langham-Putrow, Ph.D.

Scholarly Communications and Engineering Liaison Librarian

Background: Chemical engineering

Research: Molecular dynamics simulations

Data confession: I lost the same work twice—once when saving only to a (corrupted) thumbdrive and the next day saving to a laptop hard drive that died overnight.

Objectives

• Think through the stages of your research project.
• Identify places in the process where things can fall apart.
• Break down data management into tasks you can accomplish.

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Data management should occur throughout a project

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Good data management practices increase

• Longevity of your files and data
• Reproducibility of your work
• Security of your data
• Efficiency & reliability of your research

Think through your project lifecycle

• What are the steps you take in a research project?
• What materials and data do you create and use?

Activity 1

• What are the steps you take in a research project?
• What materials and data do you create and use?

Think about a specific current or future project and map out your research lifecycle. For each step in the lifecycle, list the kinds of files or data you are creating or using in that part of the process.

If you think you’re not far enough along in your project to think about the data in this much detail, use the example scenario on the table.

BAD THINGS HAPPEN

• Accidental sharing
• Software fail
• Fires
• Tornadoes
• Building collapse
• Corporate malfeasance

• Submit wrong file
• General stupidity
• Theft
• Mischievous children
• Vengeful colleagues
• Flood

Activity 2

Using the workflow you created...

• 2 minutes: Think about what could go wrong. Imagine likely and unlikely risks.
• 5 minutes: Discuss with the person next to you.
• 5 minutes: Share with the group

3-2-1 Rule

3 copies of your work

1 working copy, 2 backups

On 2 different kinds of storage

At least 1 copy off site

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Storage Options

File/Folder Organization

Possible strategies:

• By stage: collection materials, raw data, processed data, shared data
• By data type: databases, text, images, models, etc.
• By research activities: interviews, surveys, experiments, etc.
• By materials: data, documentation, publications, etc.

Descriptive file naming

Elements to consider for your file names:

• Date (YYYYMMDD)
• Project name
• Type of data
• Location/site/spatial coordinates
• Researcher info
• Version

Your closest collaborator is you, six months from now.

Best practices

• Plan ahead and be consistent!
• Use numerical dates
• Use leading zeros
• Set up browser to ask where to save files
• Use basic characters and avoid (/ , . # ?)

Use numerical dates

Sort, without numerical dates

Code_descriptions_12-8-15.docx

Code_descriptions_2-14-2015.docx

Code_descriptions_8-1-2015.docx

Sort, with numerical dates

Code_descriptions_20150214.docx

Code_descriptions_20150801.docx

Code_descriptions_20151208.docx

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Use a leading zero

Sort,

with a

leading zero

Sort,

without a

leading zero

Ask your browser to help you

Browser setting:

“ask where to save files”

Avoid special characters

Google Drive Web

On a Mac

On a PC

Possible action steps

• Inventory your files
• Analyze workflow, make sure it’s replicable
• Start a data management plan with file naming and organization details
• Set up a meeting with your group to decide on file organization plan