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Research Data Management: Data management planning checklist

Data management planning, either as a formal plan or through the use of a checklist like the one below, is good practice for identifying data issues and risks related to your research data, before they become problems.

RDM Checklist Word document

Data management planning checklist

This checklist is a guide to managing your research data, from the first stages of planning your research until your dataset is complete and analysis is finished.

 

Note: you can use the Print Page link at the bottom of this page to print the form, or download a Word document at the bottom of this page.

 

Project description and context:

 

Title:
Description of aim/purpose:
Chief investigator:
ORCiD:
Faculty/school/centre:
Contact details:
Project collaborators & institutions:
Funding source:
Specific requirements for data management:
Budget:
Duration:
I am aware of the relevant policies:

Ethics and intellectual property

See more ethics and IP information under Data Planning and under Data Storage & Publication

 

Yes  No
Does your data need to be openly available upon completion of your project?
Yes  No
Are there any issues relating to privacy and/or confidential data which will impact on the openness of your data?
Yes  No
Have you met your responsibilities under The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research?
Yes  No
If your research involves humans will the consent form indicate how the research data will be managed?
 
If not, why not?
Who owns/will own the Intellectual Property Rights of the research data?

Data capture and formats

See more information about data formats (and metadata) under Data Preparation & Analysis

 

What type/s of data will you be collecting?
Who will create/collect the data?
What file format/s will be used and why?
Yes  No
Will specialised tools (software or hardware) be required?
Yes  No
Will existing data or third-party data be used?
 
If so, what are the conditions for this use?
How will you manage the metadata?

Organising and storing working datasets

See more information about file organisation under Data Collecting

 

What is the estimated size of your dataset/s?
Have you considered file naming conventions and version control of data and related files?
Where will you store the data while it is being collected and analysed?
Who is responsible for managing the dataset/s?
What back up regime is in place and its frequency? Who does this?
Yes  No
Are there commercial, ethical or confidentiality restrictions on accessing or storing the data during the project?
Yes  No
Will any specific software be needed to read, analyse or process the data, e.g. SPSS?
Where will physical data be stored during the project?

Data sharing and re-use

See more information about data sharing under Data Storage & Publication

 

Yes  No
Are there reasons why the data cannot be shared?
Yes  No
Were these considered during the ethics/collection phases?
Yes  No
Will the research data need to be de-identified/anonymised?
If yes, explain how this will be done.
Yes  No
Are there funder requirements to make the data openly available?
Yes  No
Are there copyright restrictions on the data?
What licence will be placed on the data?
Yes  No
Will there be an embargo period?
Yes  No
Will there be mediated access rather than open access?
If yes, explain how this will be done.
Yes  No
Will the project team members have right of first use?
 

Long term storage and preservation

See more information about data repositories for long-term storage under Data Storage & Handling

 

How long will the data need to be retained?
Where will the data be stored – faculty storage, discipline data repository, Federation data repository?
What preparation of the data is required before it is archived?
What supporting or related documentation e.g. source code book, software etc. will be stored with the data?
Who will manage the long term storage and metadata creation?
Which metadata standard will you use?

This checklist is based on current best practice principles identified in The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research and in plans adopted by other Australian universities.

Further information: The Federation Library’s Liaison Librarians provide assistance to researchers and can help you with research data management planning.

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