JISC

Overview

This collaborative project seeks to promote research data management skills of postgraduate research students in the health studies discipline through a specially-developed training programme which focuses on qualitative, unstructured research data.

The training programme will draw upon relevant existing materials in different formats (eg textual, mindmaps, visual, podcasts), appropriately tailored, to support different cognitive styles. It will be designed to dovetail with existing research skills/research management provision and to become embedded within academic and staff training programmes for sustainable research data management capacity building.

Aims and Objectives

The project aims to:

• design and pilot a training programme on research data management for postgraduate research students in health studies as an integral part of a doctoral training programme. The programme will cover both generic and discipline-specific issues
• evaluate the usefulness and effectiveness of the training with participants and other research stakeholders
• provide other Higher Education Institutions with a model for research data management skills training
• make recommendations for sustainable research data management training and associated infrastructure requirements.

Project Methodology

A targeted literature review will collate best practice guidelines and research data management requirements; identify training/learning delivery models and identify existing materials for tailoring to the target audience. The training programme model and material type(s) will be designed via focus groups with the student participants and with other research stakeholders. The programme will be developed and piloted, drawing on experts from the DCC and DPC and existing materials. Participants will evaluate the experience; other research stakeholders will provide feedback on the training model and materials for transferability and recommendations. The programme will be refined and published on the Web.

Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes

A research data management training programme for health studies covering qualitative, unstructured data which is transferable to other disciplines, audiences and contexts within the pilot HEI and to the wider HE and research communities. 

A customised Google search engine to access the resources identified from the literature review.

A report summarising methods, findings and conclusions, including:

• the training model
• advice/recommendations on developing similar training for other research disciplines, audiences, contexts
• recommendations for further work/support for research stakeholders in managing data.

The outputs will support capacity building and embedding research data management skills training within academic programmes.

Technology / Standards Used

Relevant freely available, existing materials, including the DCC’s ‘Digital Curation 101-Lite’ workshop and a version of the DPC roadshows, tailored to the target audience.