Funding agencies often ask you to identify the types of data that you are producing and the types of data that you will retain for sharing. This section of your DMP is often called “Data Type,” and funding agencies are interested in details about the kind of data you are collecting, how it is being collected, an estimated amount of how much data will be collected and saved along with the initial file formats produced. The first phase of drafting a data management plan should be to make an inventory of the data you plan to collect, including:
- The type and estimated amount of data being collected:
- Examples of types of data: spatial, temporal, observational, experimental, simulations or models, survey responses, etc.
- How the data was generated:
- Examples: recorded interviews, surveys, models, sensors, image analysis, DNA sequencing, word counts, camera traps, etc.
- How the data will be saved and the types of files being produced
- This often refers to the final format for the data, or the format in which it will be shared
- Description of the data that will be preserved and shared and the rationale for doing so
- Will all data produced be shared? Or just the data underlying publication? Are there legal, ethical, or technical considerations that affect sharing?
- Metadata and other relevant data, or associated documentation that will be shared to help interpret the data
- Examples: Study protocols, data collection instruments, README files
Tips:
- It is always recommended to use open file formats rather than proprietary formats, when possible. This makes the data easier to share, work with across platforms and programs, and will make preserving and archiving the data easier. See our table on sustainable data formats for recommendations on various types of data formats.
- Using a database can be helpful in organizing data, but it is often difficult to export data from a database for future re-use. If you plan on using a database to manage your data, you will need to think about how others will be able to access and export data from it.
This content was adapted from Iowa State University Library’s Data Management Plan Guide.