Library Guides: Data Management: Introduction

Research Data Management Help at the Libraries

Data is ubiquitous in research, and we are here to help you manage it. Properly managing your data will ensure you comply with funder and publisher mandates, protect research teams as people leave and technology fails, and can even help expand the impact of research.

Our Research Data Services Team is a group of multi-disciplinary librarians available to offer consultations & trainings for university members throughout the course of their research projects, from planning to sharing data with the public. To learn more about the specific services we offer, visit our research data services site.

The following guide will walk you through the major components of research data management. Interested in a data management workshop? Contact us to schedule one for your group.

If you have questions about research data storage and/or high performance computing, please visit the University's Cyberinfrastructure site.

Grant Funder Guidance

Many grant funders, including the federal government, now require researchers to include a Data Management Plan with their grant applications and to follow these plans, along with sharing their data. This section provides tips on what researchers should consider and do at each stage of the process.

Proposal Submission

Prepare a Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan summarizing how you will obtain, process, archive and share your data.
Identify the data repositories that are most appropriate for sharing your data.
Need help? Librarians Teresa Schultz (teresas@unr.edu) and Elena Azadbakht (eazadbakht@unr.edu) can review your data plan before you submit and suggest appropriate repositories for sharing your data.
Request funding if needed for data storage, managing, and sharing.
Revise DMS Plan if requested by NIH.

During the Project

Observe good data management practices, including documenting, file naming and safe storage.
Periodically check your data and harmonize them, so it’s easier to organize towards the end of your award.
Ensure data complies with DMS Plan and update with NIH as needed.
For help keeping your data clean and tidy, contact Data Services Coordinator Carlos Ramirez at cramirezreyes@unr.edu.
For help arranging a central place to oversee data for a grant project or with following your DMS, contact Teresa Schultz at teresas@unr.edu.

Ending the Project

Organize all datasets that you created and can share, including code.
De-identify subject information and other sensitive data from your datasets.
Create appropriate metadata and ReadMe files necessary for others to understand your data.
Submit your datasets to the data repositories you previously identified.
Submit revisions of the data management and sharing plan if appropriate.
Prepare final grant report specifying how datasets were stored and shared.

What is Research Data?

Different definitions of research data abound - there is no consensus. According to the University of Leeds, "[r]esearch data is any information that has been collected, observed, generated or created to validate original research findings."

So what "counts" as research data? Data types and formats can vary widely by field. Here are some examples: