Research Data Management

Data Management for researchers at CQUniversity.

What is research data?

Any facts, observations or experiences that you base your research hypothesis on are research data. Data may be numerical, descriptive, visual, tactile, experimental, observational, raw or analysed, .

Some examples of research data include:

  • results from experiments
  • responses from interviews, focus groups, surveys, and questionnaires
  • laboratory notebooks
  • field notebooks
  • sound recordings
  • video recordings
  • photographs
  • models
  • plant samples
  • shells
  • artefacts from an archeological dig

Want to know more? Take a look at the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) page: What is research data? opens in a new window

Ethics and research data

Professional bodies, institutions and funding organisations follow the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research in order to maintain confidentiality of research data and primary materials by protecting the data from unauthorised access and use.

Ethical treatment of data applies to:

  • Collecting data
  • Creating data
  • Storing data
  • Whether or not data will be shared, and associated access provisions

See the Policies and guidelines page for links to individual policies and guidelines.

Research Data Management Lifecycle

Research Data Management is essential at all stages within the Research Data LifeCyle. A Data Management Plan will assist you to identify how you are going to capture; format; organise; store; share; reuse; and examine long-term preservation options throughout the various stages of a research project. The Digital Curation Centre's DCC Curation Lifecycle Model is one example.

DCC Curation Lifecycle Model

Image from Digital Curation Centre, Curation Lifecycle Model available under CC-BY 4.0 License

Managing Research Data

This short documentary DDC: Managing research data produced by Piers Video Production, offers a unique insight into the importance of providing access to research data and the risks of not managing data effectively.

CQUniversity eResearch