University of East London Survey on Research Data Management 2019: A snapshot of practice

A survey was conducted by Library and Learning Services to learn more about opinions and practices in research data management from staff and postgraduate research students at the University of East London. It was hoped that a deeper understanding would enable development of technical infrastructure and advisory services as appropriate, delivered by LLS, IT Services, or other relevant stakeholders.

Unfortunately, the survey received a low response rate due to several factors, including the time of year it was conducted. It has allowed us, though, to take a snapshot of data management practice at UEL—especially among postgraduate research students. UEL has a low number of externally funded researchers, meaning there are not many who are subject to the type of mandates and best practice for data management and sharing imposed by the Research Councils UK, for example.

Changes in practice have since emerged in response to the new UEL Research Data Management Policy, published just a few weeks before this survey was launched: these are mainly represented by a dramatic increase in the number of data management plans being written by researchers (both staff and postgraduate). This has allowed us to identify trends and ‘pain points’ for researchers managing their data throughout the lifecycle, many of which reinforce the findings of the survey.