What is research data management?
Research data management (RDM) comprises a set of practices—including file organization, documentation, storage, backup, security, preservation, and sharing—which affords researchers the ability to more quickly, efficiently, and accurately find, access, and understand their own or others' research data.
Why should you care about research data management?
RDM practices, if applied consistently and as early in a project as possible, can save you considerable time and effort later, when specific data are needed, when others need to make sense of your data, or when you decide to share or otherwise upload your data to a digital repository. Adopting RDM practices will also help you more easily comply with the data management plan (DMP) required for obtaining grants from many funding agencies and institutions.
What should you do if you need assistance implementing RDM practices?
Whether it's because you need discipline-specific metadata standards for your data, help with securing sensitive data, or assistance writing a data management plan for a grant, help is available to you at CWRU! In addition to consulting the resources featured in this guide, you are encouraged to contact your department's liaison librarian, the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship, or the Office of Research Administration. The box at the bottom right of the page has further points of contact.