Researchers think data-first

Making small changes in how you manage your research data can make a big difference on the impact of your research. Take the time at the beginning of a project to think about how you will handle your data to optimize its reach and utility down the line.

Why research data management matters

  • Enable others to navigate your data and follow your process
  • Protect your intellectual property
  • Be able to locate specific versions of your datasets
  • Improve your opportunities to be published and/or funded
  • Facilitate and streamline collaboration

What is Support Your Data?

Support Your Data provides you with a framework for thinking about research data management best practices across your research project’s lifecycle. Instead of overloading you with details right away, Support Your Data wants you to see the forest through the trees so you can ask yourself the right questions about your processes (and seek out the people with the answers) at the outset of your research project.

Our goal is to provide you the big picture of research data management without all the guesswork and jargon, so you can feel confident about your research data as you move forward.

Make the unique universal

Whether you’ve been collecting data on how households consume energy or tracking mutations in drug-resistant melanoma, you’ve invested countless hours and energy into your research. You could probably navigate your data and related files to understand what you did and what you found even if they were upside down and backwards.

But would a colleague in your lab, or even a scholar fifteen years from now, be able to interpret your data as easily? Could you, if you return to it after a significant amount of time? And, more importantly, will your datasets meet the standards of funding organizations so you can continue to pursue and publish your research?

Explore the best practices on research data management so you can ensure that your data is optimized for reuse.