Data Management
Data management: how and why in RDI projects?
Our RDI (research, development, and innovation) data include, for example, measurement results, source codes, recordings, interview transcriptions and survey data. Data management throughout the entire life cycle of the data makes our RDI activities responsible and transparent.
Data management planning concerns the production, organization, storage, and description of data during the project. With good data management planning we ensure that the data can be used further, and that it is open according to the principles of open science: as open as possible, as closed as necessary. Openness of data increases effectiveness, recognition, and networking of our RDI activities and speeds up research, enables reproducibility and reduces overlapping work. For researchers, producing and opening data are merits that can be added to the CV. When the data is found in a data repository and referred to, also the researcher will get the credit.
The purpose of data management planning is to ensure that we follow good data management practices and good scientific practice, and that we take care of data protection and data security (Data protection in research) in our RDI activities. HAMK has committed to follow the ethical principles for human sciences set by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK), as described in Data privacy in research and RDI ethics page. Necessary guidelines and recommendations for research ethics are discussed and agreed with our research partners in RDI projects.
Data management at HAMK
In our RDI projects, the data management plan must be made at the latest when the funding decision comes into effect. Data management plan is kept up to date during the project, and funders’ requirements for the data management plans are taken into account. There is guidance for starting projects on data management, research ethics, data protection, publication, and communication available on HAMK intranet.
In our RDI activities, data management is part of responsible development work and communication about it. Our students make a data management plan for their thesis study.
In our RDI activities, we can utilize the data collected in previous research or, for example, data published by the authorities. When referring to data in research, the same research ethical principles apply as when referring to publications. Our data management is grounded in fundamental social values related to people, animals, and the environment, as well as adherence to legal requirements.
Documenting the analysis of the data, the methods and the codes used support the reproducibility of the research. Metadata enables findability, accessibility, long-term storage, and reuse of data. RDI project data will be stored and published first and foremost in data repositories meant for research data, if possible. Our open data and metadata can be found on the national Research website.