Research data management for postgraduate taught masters students

Research data is any material used to inform or support your research conclusions. It can take many different forms including recordings, transcripts, questionnaires, photographs and code. While a taught masters research project may be relatively limited in time and scope, it is important to collect, store and manage data in a secure and appropriate way.

Writing a data management plan (DMP) can help you plan how to look after data during your project. You can use the University’s Postgraduate taught masters DMP template to help you do this.

If your research involves identifiable sensitive data, you are advised to use the Taught Masters DMP: Sensitive data template in DMPonline. You can find more information about DMPonline on the Data management planning page.

Below are some helpful tips on managing your masters research data.   

• Plan how you will collect and process data e.g. types of University-approved software you will use to collect and analyse data.
• If you will use existing data in your project, check and observe licences or conditions of use.
• For research involving social media, check each platform’s terms of use - don’t assume you have permission to use data just because it is visible online. The University provides useful guidance on research involving social media.
• Most masters research data can be stored on the University Google Drive. Your supervisor can arrange suitable alternative storage, such as the X: drive, to store any sensitive data you plan to collect.
• Organise your data in a logical way and put details of your file structure in a README file. 

• If the research involves participants, make sure participant consent and information cover all planned uses of data, from collection to archiving, and are consistent with the details of your ethics approval. 

• Only collect personal details if essential for the research and don’t keep them longer than necessary.  

• Check your School or Department’s requirements and provision for storing masters research data after the project.
• If you collect identifiable data from participants outside the UK, check and observe any country-specific requirements for data transfer.

For further information, contact rdm@sheffield.ac.uk.