CESSDA (the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) has announced the launch of their new online expert tour guide on data management.
Over the past year, 11 CESSDA archives (ADP, AUSSDA, CSDA, DANS, FORS, FSD, GESIS,NSD, SND, So.Da.Net and the UK Data Service) have combined forces to create a guide with a collection of resources on data management across the research data life cycle.
The expert tour guide was created to introduce the concepts of data management and provide guidance to researchers. The tour guide aims to contribute to professionalism in data management and to increasing the value of research data by making their research data findable, understandable, sustainably accessible and reusable (FAIR). A downloadable checklist helps researchers who need to create a Data Management Plan.
Guided by European experts the online module takes early career social scientists on a journey through the different stages of their project, from the initial planning phase to the publication of the research data. Along the way, the reader is provided with illustrations and examples, as well as expert tips and insights into data management practices in different European countries.
The expert tour guide also provides guidance to help researchers answer questions such as:
- How do I handle personal data?
- What is the best way of documenting my data?
- How do I store my data safely?
- Can I share my data with others?
UK Data Services’s Veerle Van den Eynden, talking from the launch event of the tour guide in Ljubljana, commented “It’s great to see the wide and growing expertise on best practices in research data management that exists across Europe, culminate into a creatively developed guide that takes young researchers on a tour around the research data lifecycle. Praise also to Scott Summers, Libby Bishop, Kate Powis and Stuart Macdonald for taking the lead in writing content for the ‘Protect’ chapter and contributing exercises and expertise to other chapters.”
Take the tour and visit the online expert tour guide.
A starter package is available for trainers in data management in the social sciences. Contact training@cessda.net if you wish to organise a one-day workshop on specific topics.