Data Management for Researchers

by Kristin Briney

A comprehensive guide to everything scientists need to know about data management, this book is essential for researchers who need to learn how to organize, document and take care of their own data.

Researchers in all disciplines are faced with the challenge of managing the growing amounts of digital data that are the foundation of their research. Kristin Briney offers practical advice and clearly explains policies and principles, in an accessible and in-depth text that will allow researchers to understand and achieve the goal of better research management.

It includes sections on: The data problem; The data lifecycle; Planning for data management; Documenting your data; Organizing your data; Improving data analysis; Managing secure and private data; Short-term storage; Preserving and archiving your data; Sharing/publishing your data; and Reusing data.

This book is designed for scientific researchers but it is useful for anyone who wants to get more from their data: academics, educators, professionals or anyone who teaches data management, sharing and preservation.

204 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Miss Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

the thing about me is i possess brainworms and every time i am called upon to formally present something i need to assure myself that i am equipped to answer any possible question i may be asked

(i am generally not asked all that many questions but the worms root in regardless)

anyways, sometimes that means i have to read an entire book on data management for researchers to calm my nerves in preparation for teaching a research data management 101 workshop. this is a very good one! impressive how well it holds up a decade after publication

5 stars

[Muhammad Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book on introduction but lack some information on how data is managed using softwares like epidata and access.

[Im_a_dataguy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of reading Ms Briney’s book “Data Management for Researchers”, and you’ll have to excuse me if I gush a little bit - this book is *awesome*. I cannot recommend this slender, seemingly innocent looking book enough - it will literally change how you think about data management. With chapters on everything from planning your data management to documentation, sensitive data to sharing data, Ms Briney does in just over 200 pages what many people don’t grasp after years working with data. Analysis is just a small part of what a researcher, or for that matter what anyone working with data, should worry about. She presents example after example of how things have gone horribly wrong, providing steps to avoid those data tragedies, all in a way that you can read the book in an afternoon.

The book’s dedication is “In memory of data lost” - if everyone who collects, analyses, or works with data practiced the steps outlined in even one section of this book, there would be a lot less data that is being lost.

Everyone from students to CIOs should read this book - we are all customers of data, and we all benefit when the data is good and suffer when the data is bad. Buy this book, read this book, use this book, and you will benefit greatly as your chances of losing your hard work will diminish greatly.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is delightfully direct and practical. It will change the way I work as a librarian on a day-to-day basis, and gave me insight into the working lives of faculty researchers.