Title: Module 5: Assignment answers
Course: Teaching Open Science and Research Data Management for Undergraduates > Section: Module 5: Research Data Management in Practice

1. Does your institution have a data policy? What does it say? Is it helpful? Share your experience and discuss with your peers.

*** It is impossible to give a standard answer to this question - find out yourself! ***

Example answer:

CSC – IT Center for Science has got a data policy. https://csc.fi/en/security-privacy-data-policy-and-open-source-policy/data-policy/ It promotes best data management practices and the following data management principles are set in this policy:

- Data ownership is clear and management responsibilities agreed upon
- Data are documented and their lifecycle defined
- Data publicity and protection are managed appropriately
- Data are made as open and as interoperable as possible
- Data management solutions favor open standards, protocols and software
- Data management competencies are recognized and developed in order to support these principles and their implementation

The Data Policy is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of data management issues.

2. Try to find a data repository for your own data or in general, for data of your field of science.

a) What would be the data repository and why?

b) What persistent identifier would you get from the repository and what license do they recommend or give to the data?

*** It is impossible to give a standard answer to this question - find out yourself! ***

Example answer:

I have biodiversity data, so I want to find a repository suitable for it. GBIF seems to be free and open access repository for this kind of data. https://www.gbif.org/ It provides DOI as a persistent identifier. GBIF recommends CC0 for publishing data, but CC-BY licenses may also be used. CC0 allows all the data producers to be referenced by a single DOI.

3. Which of the following options are in line with the FAIR principles? Explain why.

A. Researcher XYZ publishes theirher research data:

a) in a trustworthy data repository that is well known by her research community (answer: true, this aligns with the FAIR principles as the repository is likely to provide proper metadata, accessibility, and interoperability, making the data easier to find and reuse.)

b) on her own website (answer: No, this doesn’t fully align with FAIR principles. Data on a personal website may not be as findable, accessible, or interoperable, and may lack sufficient metadata.)

c) on Zenodo (answer: Partially. Zenodo is a trusted open-access repository and supports some aspects of FAIR, but it may not fully meet all FAIR principles, particularly regarding interoperability and rich metadata.)

B. Researcher XYZ wants to share his research data on request. He…

a) saves it on a USB stick, protects it with a password, and gives this stick to interested people he trusts (answer: No, this does not align with FAIR principles. It limits the data’s accessibility and findability, as it is shared manually and only with trusted individuals, which does not support broad and open reuse.)

b) provides metadata and contact details in a data repository, the files are not visible and not accessible (answer: Yes, this aligns with FAIR principles. The metadata is openly available, and there is a clear way to request access to the data, which supports its findability and potential reuse while respecting access restrictions.)

C. Researcher XYZ saves research data…

a) together with his contact details to provide further information on the data production, used abbreviations  etc. (answer:  No, this alone does not fully align with FAIR principles. While providing contact details is useful, it does not ensure that the data is findable, accessible, or reusable on its own.

b) together with a README file that contains all information required to understand and reuse the data (answer: Yes, this aligns with FAIR principles. A README file with comprehensive information ensures the data is understandable and reusable, supporting its Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability.)

D. Researcher XYZ publishes spreadsheets in…

a) csv format (answer: Yes, this aligns with FAIR principles. CSV is a widely used, open format that supports easy data accessibility and interoperability.)

b) xls format (answer: No, this format is proprietary to Microsoft Excel and may not be as easily accessible or interoperable as open formats.)

c) xlsx format (answer: No, while XLSX is an improvement over XLS, it is still a proprietary format that might not be as easily accessible or interoperable compared to open formats.)

d) only as pdf (answer: No, PDF is not suitable for publishing data that needs to be reused or analyzed because it is not designed for easy data extraction or manipulation.)

4. Find your home organisation guidance for writing a data management plan (DMP). What DMP-tool does your organisation recommend?

*** It is impossible to give a standard answer to this question - find out yourself! ***

This is an example of Digital Curations Center´s (DCC) guidance for writing a data management plan (DMP) https://www.dcc.ac.uk/dmps . DCC recommends using DMPonline when developing the DMP.

5. Why should data management be seen more as a process than just a planning document?

Answer: Data management should be seen as a process rather than just a planning document because it involves ongoing actions and decisions throughout the research lifecycle. It’s not just about creating a plan but also about continually organizing, storing, sharing, and protecting data to ensure its quality and usability over time. This dynamic approach helps maintain data integrity and makes it easier to access and use for future research.