Understanding Data Curation Profiles: A Roadmap for Effective Research Data Management

1. Data Curation ProfilesAKA your midterm assignment GRAD 521, Research Data Management Winter 2014 – Lecture 6 Amanda L. Whitmire, Asst. Professor

2. Roadmap • Characteristics & content of a Data Curation Profile (DCP) • The components of the DCP Toolkit • How these components fit together • Discussion: your ideas for the assignment

3. Characteristics of the DCP Tells “the story” of the data Focused on a specific data set: provides depth, not breadth Interview-based Meant to be “discipline neutral” & widely applicable to different types of data Modular – allows for flexibility & tailoring to specific situations and uses

4. Characteristics of the DCP Represents the researcher’s needs & perspectives A concise, structured document suitable for sharing & annotation A resource for librarians, archivists, IT professionals, data managers & others

5. DCP Sections • Information about the data & its context • 1. Summary of data curation needs • 2. Overview of the research • Focus • Intended audience • Funding • 3. Data types, formats & stages • Data narrative (data lifecycle) • Target data for sharing • Use/re-use value • Contextual narrative

6. Example: Data types & formats

7. DCP Sections Information about practices & needs • Intellectual property • Organization & description of data • Ingest • Sharing & access • Discovery • Tools • Interoperability • Measuring impact • Data management • Preservation

8. The DCP Toolkit The Data Curation Profile Toolkit consists of 4 components: • User Guide • Interviewer’s Manual • Interview Worksheet • DCP Template

9. The User Guide • Describes the rationale for the DCP • Describes the process through which a DCP is generated Stage 1 – Preparation Stage 2 – Worksheet & interviews Stage 3 – Constructing the Profile • Provides guidance & advice

10. Interview Worksheet & Manual Meant to be used in tandem • The Interview Worksheet is given to the researcher to fill out. • The Interviewer’s Manual contains follow up questions for the interviewer to ask once the researcher has filled out a module.

11. DCP Template Provides the structure of the Data Curation Profile Each section or sub-section contains a brief definition of the information that is needed to populate a Data Curation Profile

12. Module 2 Example Interview Manual Interview Worksheet

13. Module 2 Example DCP Template Completed Profile

15. Stages of the DCP Preparation Interviewing Connections between the components, pulling it all together

16. How to Develop a DCP A Data Curation Profile is developed through 3 stages: Stage 1 – Preparation Stage 2 – Interviews Stage 3 – Constructing theProfile

17. Stage 1 – Preparing • Investigate researchers’ work and use of data (e.g., a recent article/grant) • Faculty’s website • Faculty publications • Seminars • Press releases • Review of grants that have been awarded

18. Stage 1 – Preparing • Audio recording • Strongly recommended • Storage & safe-keeping of audio files • Transcription

19. Stage 2 – Interviewing • Introduction to the Interview • Need for two interviews? • Time required • Coverage

20. Stage 2 – Interviewing • Using the Interview Manual & Worksheet • Read any introductory statement listed in the “Interviewer’s Manual” (if any) • Then have the researcher complete the list of questions for the module in the “Interview Worksheet” • Review the responses and ask the questions listed in the “Interviewer’s Manual” as appropriate • Ask any follow up questions you feel are needed • Move on to the next module

21. Stage 2 – Interviewing • Types of Worksheet Questions: • Free text • Short answer (text) • Selecting from a range of possible responses • Yes/No • Likert Scale

22. Stage 2 – Interviewing • Types of Questions: Manual • Explanatory – “Tell me why you selected “x” as your response” • Clarifying – “Could you explain what you mean by “x”? • Probing – “Could you tell me more about “x”? • Relational – “Could you tell me how “x” relates to your earlier response of “y”?

23. Transcribing the Interview Full:

24. Transcribing the Interview Indexed

25. Modules & Sections of DCP

26. Connections b/w components Interview Worksheet Interview Manual DCP Template

27. Worksheet Mod.13 Q2 Interview Worksheet

28. Manual: Mod 13 Q2

29. Connections b/w components Section 13.1 of the Completed Data Curation Profile

31. Discussion Modifications to the DCP Audio recording Biggest challenges? Realistic timeframe

32. Modifications to the DCP • Required interview modules: • Background demographic Q’s • Mod.01: The dataset • Mod.02: Lifecycle of dataset • Mod.03: Sharing • Mod.04: Access • Mod.06: Organization & description of data • Mod.12: Data Management • Optional interview modules: • Mod.05: Data Xfer/ingest • Mod.07: Discovery • Mod.08: Intellectual property • Mod.09: Tools • Mod.10: Linking/Interop. • Mod.11: Measuring impact • Mod.13: Data Preservation • How many of the profile modules do you want to include?

33. Audio recording Is it necessary & possible? Would you & your interviewee be OK w/it?

34. Challenges? What are you concerned about?

35. Realistic timeframe?