DMP – Introduction

By now it should be clear that data needs to be properly managed throughout its lifecycle. The most effective way to do this is to create a Data Management Plan (DMP). This will take into account all the stages of the research data lifecycle. As outlined earlier, each individual researcher or research leader is responsible to draw up a data management plan. He or she should do this at the start of the research project. And during the research you should actively follow up on the agreements made in this plan.

As well as defending against misconduct accusations, some additional benefits of creating a data management plan include:

• Accessing your data more easily;
• Prioritising and balancing activities relating to research data collection and storage;
• Mitigating data loss;
• Reaching agreement between stakeholders about ownership of data;
• Reducing time and effort in the long term.
  The good news is that this online training will take you through the necessary steps to create a plan during the subsequent modules.