Research data management
Securing and providing research data sustainably
The management of research data plays an increasingly important role in the research process. Research funders at a national and international level increasingly require presenting data management plans when applying for a research project. When planning a research project, researchers need to take precautions and measures in accordance with the FAIR principles for research data.
The term research data management refers to all the research data-related activities resulting from the data life cycle. Data management activities may include data collection during a research project, data processing (incl. analysis), and archiving of research data, for example, at a facility of the research data infrastructure, such as a research data centre.
In the social, behavioural, educational and economic sciences, KonsortSWD aims to provide researchers and research data centres (RDCs) with the tools and services they need for managing and sharing (new) sensitive and non-sensitive data in accordance with the FAIR principles. The consortium builds on the long-standing expertise of the German Data Forum, which issues publications on the topic regularly.
Overview of the German Data Forum's activities, resources, and work results on the topic of research data management:
RatSWD publications
RatSWD Output 3 (5)
Available in German only: Forschungsdatenmanagement in den Sozial-, Verhaltens- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften – Orientierungshilfen für die Beantragung und Begutachtung datengenerierender und datennutzender Forschungsprojekte
Press release from 29.06.2016
42nd Meeting of the German Data Forum: Exchange on Research Infrastructures – RatSWD welcomes recommendations of the RfII
Auffinden – Zitieren – Dokumentieren
Available in German only: Dieser Wegweiser von ZBW, GESIS und RatSWD greift einige grundsätzliche Aspekte im Umgang mit quantitativen Forschungsdaten auf und orientiert sich dabei an den Regeln guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis
Press release from 08.09.2014
Available in German only: Was ist zu beachten beim Management von Forschungsdaten?
Press release from 10.09.2013
Available in German only: Data Sharing: Experten fordern Forschungsdatenmanagement als festes Element universitärer Curricula
RatSWD Book (2012)
Available in German only: Altenhöner, Reinhard und Oellers, Claudia (Hrsg.) (2012). Langzeitarchivierung von Forschungsdaten – Standards und disziplinspezifische Lösungen. Scivero Verlag, Berlin.
RatSWD working groups
Task Force Handling Large Amounts of Data (2017–2020)
A task force on handling large amounts of data in the RDC, comprised of members of the FDI Committee, analyses the status quo based on select RDCs, identifies specific challenges, collects possible solutions, and develops recommendations.
Archiving and Access to Qualitative Data (2017–2020)
An interdisciplinary workshop evaluated past experiences with archiving qualitative data, discussed fundamental problems of archiving and secondary analysis, and identified the requirements to an archiving infrastructure for qualitative research data.
Decentral Archiving Structure at Research Data Centres (2017–2020)
This working group developed recommendations on joint quality standards for (decentral) archiving and on the establishment of a decentral, user-friendly archiving infrastructure.
Task Force Research Data Management (2017–2020)
The task force developed comprehensive guidelines for creating research data management plans in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences. The handout on “Research Data Management in the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences” was published as the RatSWD Output 3 (5) in June 2016.
Past RatSWD events and workshops
RatSWD-Workshop ‘Archiving and Access to Qualitative Data’
27–28 April 2018, Bremen
More than 50 researchers got together for an interdisciplinary RatSWD workshop at the University of Bremen on 27-28 April 2018 to develop solutions for archiving and re-using qualitative research data. The participants evaluated past experiences, discussed fundamental problems of archiving and secondary analysis, and identified requirements for improving the archiving infrastructure for qualitative data.
Forum I at the 7th Conference for Social and Economic Data (7|KSWD)
09 February 2017, Berlin
Headed by Prof. Dr. Stefan Liebig, the Forum I at the 7th Conference for Social and Economic Data (7|KSWD) addressed necessary development steps in research data management. The presentations of the forum are available online.
Articles in the RatSWD Working Paper Series on RDM
RatSWD Working Paper #266/2017
Alexia Meyermann, Doris Bambey, Malte Jansen et al.: „Der Verbund Forschungsdaten Bildung ‒ Eine Forschungsdaten-infrastruktur für die empirische Bildungsforschung
RatSWD Working Paper #225/2013
Sven Vlaeminck und Gert G. Wagner: „Zur Rolle von Forschungsdatenzentren beim Management von publikationsbezogenen Forschungsdaten – Ergebnisse einer Befragung von wissenschaftlichen Infrastrukturdienstleistern“