Insights into practice vs theory – research data management and sharing

Ai Lin Soo¹, Eva Fisch Eva Fisch¹, Dr Kerry McClean¹, Patrick Splawa-Neyman¹, Dr Steve Quenette¹, David Groenewegen¹

¹Monash University, ,

The Australian Research Data Commons’ initiative; The Data Retention Project is a national investment aimed at “enrich[ing] data collections with controlled and consistent structural metadata to drive the FAIR data principles, particularly the findability, accessibility and reusability of data collections”.

In a collaboration between the University Library (the Library) and the Monash eResearch Centre (MeRC), the rollout of Phase 1 of the Data Retention Project at Monash University revealed a broad spectrum of disciplinary attitudes and historical group practices that affected researchers ability to realise FAIR principles.  With the completion of Phase 1, the Library and MeRC set out to formally collect their experiences in this area.

The initiative involved conducting interviews with 35 researchers, identified through the ARDC Project as having high value collections on Monash Research Data Storage infrastructure. In the hope of understanding actual research practice, insights were sought on a range of topics including;

1. What are the current practices for research data management and sharing amongst this group and did the ARDC Phase 1 project prompt changes in such practices;
2. What decisions are required by researchers about research data storage and sharing, and when are these decisions made;
3. How are decisions about data value, quality, reuse and retention made by researchers/research collaborators ; and;
4. What further support can be provided to researchers, and when, to facilitate decision making about their research data.

The presentation will provide a consolidated summary of the insights gained from this initiative.

Biography:

Ai-Lin Soo

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3605-9808

Ai-Lin Soo has a background in Commerce, with a focus on sustainability and BioMedical Science and is currently part of the Monash eResearch Centre, Monash University team. Ai-Lin is involved in a number of cross cutting initiatives within the Centre, applying her project management skills to a diverse range of projects from marketing and communications to research data management. Ai-Lin is also heavily involved in the Research Data Culture Conversation and manages the Monash University response to the ARDC Data Retention and Institutional Underpinnings programmes.