Education Needs in Research Data Management for Science-Based Disciplines

Abstract

Research data management is a prominent and evolving consideration for the academic community, especially in scientific disciplines. This research study surveyed 131 graduate students and 79 faculty members in the sciences at two public doctoral universities to determine the importance, knowledge, and interest levels around research data management training and education. The authors adapted 12 competencies for measurement in the study. Graduate students and faculty ranked the following areas most important among the 12 competencies: ethics and attribution, data visualization, and quality assurance. Graduate students indicated they were least knowledgeable and skilled in data curation and re-use, metadata and data description, data conversion and interoperability, and data preservation. Their responses generally matched the perceptions of faculty. The study also examined how graduate students learn research data management, and how faculty perceive that their students learn research data management. Results showed that graduate students utilize self-learning most often and that faculty may be less influential in research data management education than they perceive. Responses for graduate students between the two institutions were not statistically different, except in the area of perceived deficiencies in data visualization competency.