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Research Data Management

Data Dictionary & ReadMe Files

Data dictionaries

 

Lucas Reis. What is a data dictionary and why you should have one (3:19)

Open Science Framework (OSF) describe a  data dictionary as

"Critical to making your research more reproducible because it allows others to understand your data. The purpose of a data dictionary is to explain what all the variable names and values in your spreadsheet really mean."

 

A data dictionary describes and documents elements in your data or spreadsheets such as:

  • Variable names
  • Readable variable name
  • Measurement units
  • Allowed values
  • Definition of the variable
  • Synonyms for the variable name (optional)
  • Description of the variable (optional)


README Files

A 'ReadMe file' “is a text file that introduces and explains a project. It contains information that is commonly required to understand what the project is about.”  https://www.makeareadme.com/

Other resources
https://datamanagement.hms.harvard.edu/collect-analyze/documentation-metadata/readme-files
https://data.4tu.nl/s/documents/Guidelines_for_creating_a_README_file.pdf
https://research-hub.auckland.ac.nz/guide-to-managing-research-data/organising-and-describing-data/research-data-readme

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