Research Guides: Research Data Management: Define Research Data

Define Research Data

Research Data

Research data is defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget as "the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings."
This definition was adopted by Texas A&M University and included in the Standard Administrative Procedure: Responsible Stewardship of Research Data.

Research data often includes the examples below, but may vary by discipline:

Text and numeric information

Documents (text, Word), spreadsheets
Research notes
Laboratory notebooks, field notebooks, diaries
Questionnaires, transcripts, codebooks
Numeric information

Digital and physical objects

Photos, films, and videos
Diagrams
Images
Test responses
Charts and graphs
Protein or genetic sequences
Slides, artifacts, specimens, samples

Materials and other recorded information

Models, algorithms, scripts
Content of an application (input, output, log files for analysis software, simulation software, schemas)
Methodologies, protocols, and workflows

Adapted from The Responsible Stewardship of Research Data, and Defining Research Data by North Carolina State Universities Libraries.

The following records may be important to manage during and after a research project, but may not be required to be included in a data management plan:

Grant applications
Ethics applications
Technical reports
Research reports
Signed consent forms

Adapted from Defining Research Data by North Carolina State Universities Libraries and Defining Research Data by the University of Oregon Libraries.

What is not considered data?

Examples include:

Preliminary analyses
Drafts of scientific papers
Plans for future research
Peer reviews
Communications with colleagues

Examples of restricted data:

Trade secrets, commercial information, materials necessary to be held confidential by a researcher until they are published, or similar information which is protected under law; and
personnel and medical information and similar information the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, such as information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study.

Adapted from The Responsible Stewardship of Research Data, and Defining Research Data by North Carolina State Universities Libraries.