Transcript Introduction to research data management - a physical science case study Slides provided by DaMaRO Project, University of Oxford Research Services.

Introduction to research
data management
- a physical science case study
Slides provided by DaMaRO Project,
University of Oxford
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Services
The researcher

Dr Richard Goulden, a British Heart Foundation
funded postdoc in the Department of Chemistry
 Working with Chemical Biology and Analytical
Chemistry research groups
 Uses analytical chemistry methods to study
biological molecules related to diseases
 Involves using nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) to study a family of enzymes called the
2-oxoglutarate (2OG) oxygenase
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The dataset
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Data collected using Bruker NMR instruments
Raw data stored in the Bruker data format
Analysed using Bruker TopSpin software or CCPNmr
Analysis software
Analysed data stored in Excel spreadsheets (for
quantitative studies) and PowerPoint files (for
qualitative studies)
Most analysed data also stored in printed format in lab
books
Roughly 50 GB of data generated in the last year
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Storage and back-up strategy
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Raw data from the NMR instruments are stored on the
instrument PC, which is backed up every couple of
months to DVDs
Much raw data also transferred to desktop computers –
usually stored on external hard drives
Analysed data (e.g. Excel spreadsheets and
PowerPoint files) are stored in a shared folder on a
departmental server which is backed up daily
Lab books are stored inside the laboratory in locked
cupboards
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File naming strategies
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Order by date:
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Order by type:
2013-04-12_analysis_ASPH.xlsx
Analysis_ASPH_2012-12-15.xlsx
2013-04-12_raw-data_ASPH.txt
Analysis_JARID1A_2013-04-12.xlsx
2012-12-15_analysis_JARID1A.xlsx
Raw-data_ASPH_2012-12-15.txt
2012-12-15_raw-data_JARID1A.txt
Raw-data_JARID1A_2013-04-12.txt
Order by subject:

Forced order with numbering:
ASPH_analysis_2012-12-15.xlsx
01_JARID1A_raw-data_2013-04-12.txt
ASPH_raw-data_2012-12-15.txt
02_JARID1A_analysis_2013-04-12.xlsx
JARID1A_analysis_2013-04-12.xlsx
03_ASPH_raw-data_2012-12-15.txt
JARID1A_raw-data_2013-04-12.txt
04_ASPH_analysis_2012-12-15.xlsx
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File naming strategies
In retrospect I am not very happy with the method I
used for naming files. The biggest problem was with
the newspaper articles I downloaded… I named the
files only based on the topic of the article, without
mentioning the name of the periodical and the year
of publication, which would have been very useful
later, when I began writing the thesis.
– Doctoral student researching communication history
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Metadata – data about data

A formal,
structured
description
of a dataset
 Used by
archives
to create
catalogue
records
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Data preservation and sharing plan

Analysed data available to everyone in research
group via shared folder
 Data relating to journal papers included as
supplemental information (e.g. in table format)
 Researcher is also an active Wikipedia
contributor, and updates relevant articles once
findings are published
 Data will be ultimately be deposited in the
BMRB (Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank)
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Rights and re-use

This slideshow is part of a series of research data management
training resources prepared by the DaMaRO Project at the
University of Oxford
 It is based on information about real research projects provided
by the academics who worked on them – though all names
have been changed, and case studies may have been edited,
amplified, or combined
 The slideshow is made available under a Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License
 Within the terms of this licence, we actively encourage sharing,
adaptation, and re-use of this material
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