Research Data

+

What is research data?

The Specialised Information Service defines research data as such: “Research data are all data that have been collected, observed, recorded or produced in the course of a research project.”

The following questions may help to answer what research data is generated in a project:
Which data and materials help to verify the research results in a transparent and efficient way?
What data has been collected and produced to answer a research question?
What data will be made available to other researchers for re-use?

+

What kinds of research data are collected in the field of Middle Eastern Studies?

Of course, data is also “collected, observed, recorded and produced” in the context of scientific research projects of Middle Eastern Studies. These are as diverse as the sub-disciplines and the issues they address. In addition to the heterogeneity of research questions and methods, a particular challenge is posed by the fact that Middle Eastern Studies are heavily integrated into interdisciplinary research networks.

In addition to a bibliography (which can also be counted as research data), research data in the field of Middle Eastern studies can also include digitisations, interviews, audio recordings, film material, transcriptions and transliterations, excerpts, geodata, etc.

+

What is research data management?

To be able to work successfully with research data and materials, they must be protected, stored and organised in a suitable form. The process of organising and storing research data and materials is referred to as research data management (RDM).

+

Why is it necessary to deal with research data management?

Researchers wishing to obtain project funding are increasingly being asked to consider the management of the research data they are likely to generate and to produce a Data Management Plan (DMP). The DMP should provide answers to these questions, for example: Which data should be used in the research process? Which data should be stored long-term? Should the data be made available to third parties? However, it is also important for research projects to address the issue of research data management beyond the funding structure. This can help make the projects efficient and sustainable. The benefits of systematic management of research materials and data include:

• Once a successful system is established, the data can be worked with more efficiently, particularly in projects where several researchers are working together.
• The materials and data can also be used without barriers when applying for and implementing follow-up projects.
• The visibility of the research material and data collected can document the work done both during a project and in applications for new projects.
• The unambiguous identification of materials and data (e.g. via DOI) makes the data sets citable. This makes plagiarism and intellectual theft more difficult.
• When stored on repositories, the data remains permanently accessible. Loss of data due to damaged or lost storage media is impossible.
• Making research data available in repositories is increasingly seen as a career-enhancing publication in its own right.

The great value of research data lies in its reusability. Depending on the research question, the methods and tools will differ considerably. When planning and designing a research project, it is useful to take the already existing data and materials into account. Research data often contains material that has not yet been fully explored.In order to make the work as easy and consistent as possible, it is advisable to address the issue of research data management as early as possible, ideally during the planning phase of a project.

+

What does successful research data management involve?

The way data is organised is influenced by many factors. These factors often have nothing to do with the research itself. Rather, the organisation is highly dependent on the way it works and the environment in which it operates. Do you work exclusively in your own office or in different locations or on the move, e.g. on the train? Do you work more with a computer or on paper? Is this an individual project or a collaborative one?All efforts to organise the material usually end up in a brief description of the material according to certain criteria: Date of creation, date of storage, place of creation, persons involved in the collection, thematic and bibliographical references, language, signature, etc. In the information sciences, these short descriptions are called metadata. These are at the heart of research data management. Their quality determines the success of a research data management system.

Research data management is based on four pillars:

• Organisation of materials and data
• Description of materials and data
• Storage of materials and data
• Keep materials and data accessible and applicable

+

What is the benefit of research data management?

In order to make transparent what research materials and data have already been collected, research data management should comply with the so-called “FAIR” principles. As an acronym, “fair” stands for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. These principles include:

• F – The data are described by metadata and have a unique, unambiguous and persistent identifier for each data set (e.g. Digital Object Identifier, DOI). This makes the data findable.
• A – The (meta) data protocols are freely and freely accessible (e.g. in XML).
• I – A standardised data vocabulary is used and reference is made to other metadata so that the records are generally applicable.
• R – The (meta)data are of sufficient quality to be able to be reused in a meaningful way.

+

Open Access in research data

Ideally, research-related information and data should be openly accessible without restrictions. However, there is a need to restrict and control access to some research data. In particular, Open Access is not possible when personal rights are involved. It is therefore important to stress that fair is not a synonym for open. The FAIR principles are in the first instance a requirement for metadata. If the research data themselves are also freely available, this is a “nice to have”. The level of accessibility of the data itself is determined by the researchers who collected the data. The best approach is to take this into account at the data collection stage and to obtain the consent of the data subject where appropriate.

For researchers, this means that research data can be organised successfully, systematically and transparently according to the FAIR principles, without having to make even a single data set freely accessible. The record just needs to be proven, identified, described and securely stored. However, the descriptive metadata must be freely accessible.

+

RDM at the Specialised information service

One of the tasks of the Specialised information service for Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies is to provide advice on research data management. Its main role is to act as an intermediary between research projects, research data centres and possible project sponsors. We also help researchers to develop a research data management plan and advise on finding a suitable repository. The FID supports font and language specifics of meta and standard data, so that the data can be found via different search spaces, discovery systems and catalogues.

As there is a consensus in the information sciences that research data is best stored in specialised repositories, we are working with the Open Science Team at the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt to set up a research data repository. This will allow different types of access. In addition, all records will be provided with a unique persistent identifier (DOI).

+

The FID in the NFDI

With “NFDI4culture” and “text+”, the Specialised information service is a partner in two consortia of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and participates in the cross-cutting area ELSA (Ethical Legal Social Aspects). The FID brings the needs and requirements of the Middle East Studies into the NFDI and communicates its standards and offerings to the professional community.