Introduction

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The validity of your research depends on the quality of your data, and the quality of your data will be degraded if any part is lost, corrupted, or mislabelled.

Research data management (RDM) protects the quality and validity of your research by systematically organising, managing, and saving your data.

This guide will help you prepare the data management documentation required for your dissertation or research project. Templates are available from the Library’s Data Management page.

Research data is recorded in many different formats and media types. Physical items, such as artifacts and organic samples, will demand careful management over time. The management of digital files can be challenging due to the number file formats that may exist for each kind of information; from basic spreadsheets to test equipment readouts, from simple images to 3D photogrammetry.

To highlight the importance of research data management, you are required to complete a data management plan. This guide will help you fill out your plan, create your file and folder naming conventions, to decide how and where you will save your data, and to consider copyright and ethical implications that will need to be adressed in your final, submitted dissertation.

Should you need further help please contact the library.

Data management planning templates are available for download here or directly from our library data management page here.