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Open Access to (research) data - for students: What can be defined as research data

Research data

WHAT CAN BE DEFINED AS RESEARCH DATA?

According to the Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2014) can research data be divided into primary material and data. 

  • Primary material is any material (e.g. biological material, notes, interviews, texts and literature, digital raw data, recordings, etc.) that forms the basis of the research. 
  • Data are detailed records of the primary materials that comprise the basis for the analysis that generates the results.

Source: Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Ministry of Higher Education and Science(2014).

According to EU's Open Data Directive (Article 2, 9) (2019):

  • "Research data" means documents in a digital form, other than scientific publications, which are collected or produced in the course of scientific research activities and are used as evidence in the research process or are commonly accepted in the research community as necessary to validate research findings and results.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information.

Types of research data

RESEARCH DATA CAN BE

  • Observational – real time, unique and irreplaceable (e.g. field recordings, sample data). 
  • Experimental – data from lab equipment, often reproducible (e.g. gene sequences, chromatograms, magnetic field data).
  • Models or simulation – data generated from test models (e.g. climate models, economic models).
  • Derived or compiled – processing or combining ‘raw data’ (e.g. text and data mining, compiled databases, 3D models).
  • Reference or canonical – published or curated data (e.g. gene sequence databanks, collection of letters or archive of historical images). 

Be critical of your sources

INVESTIGATE 

  • Who generated the data? 
  • With what objective is the data generated? Does it tell you about the context in which the data should be situated?
  • What methods, procedures or tools were used in the data collection or data generation? 
  • Is there a data collection protocol, interview manual or other information that describes in detail the creation of this data?
  • How are data modified, adjusted, annotated, and are these changes documented?
  • Where did you find the data and how trustworthy is that source?
  • Which license conditions are in place to use the data?

Questions?

Please write to rub@kb.dk

Research data can be

  • Quantitative
  • Qualitative
  • Videos 
  • Pictures
  • Sound recordings
  • and more...