Manage and plan

Manage your research data to help you:

avoid theft, loss, accidental disclosure and intellectual property disputes
save time through efficient data capture, handling and processing
comply with funding agencies and publisher requirements to make your research data available
ensure reproducibility of your research outputs
share and licence your data on project completion, to encourage research collaboration.

Get advice on managing data responsibly, see the research integrity resource sheets, in particular:

#5 Responsible management of data (PDF 562k)

Your responsibilities

You need to understand your data management requirements before starting your project, especially if your research is funded by key bodies— ARC or NHMRC .

Be familiar with the policy that applies to all research undertaken at Griffith.

Develop a data management plan

A data management plan documents the way your data will be treated throughout your project.

Before you start your project, ask yourself:

Who owns your research data and what happens to your data if or when you leave the University?

How long are you required to retain the research data?

If you are joining an established project, is there an existing data management plan you need to comply with?

Will human participants be involved, if so, how will you protect their privacy and what consent would be required?

Is your data considered sensitive?

How will you protect data from unauthorised access, loss or accidental disclosure?

What file formats will be used or generated?

Do you understand your responsibilities for data management?

Would your project benefit from developing an induction and exit plan to ensure correct data handling practices and requirements are being addressed by research team members?

Think about how your data is:

What types of data will be captured and collected, and what tools are needed?

What is the estimated final size of the dataset you will be creating?

Is high performance computing required or access to discipline-specific analysis, computation or visualisation tools?

How will you organise and document your data?

How will you manage file naming?

Do you need to keep track of any versions of software code?

Will your non-digital data, and any copies, be held in a safe and secure location?

Will your digital data, and any copies, be held in a safe and secure location?

Are all project hard drives (laptops and portable drives) encrypted to prevent a data breach?

What protocols are in place for securing data that must be exchanged with external partners or service providers?

How many people will form the research team and what are their roles?

What should you do if you suspect your data has been breached?

What is the plan for data sharing?

Will the journal you publish with require a copy of your supporting research data to be stored in a discipline-based or an institutional repository?

Is there potential for your data, including de-identified sensitive data, to be reused in the future by other researchers?

What data are you required to retain and for how long? If you are required to destroy data securely, how will you do this?

Your data management plan should be a dynamic document. Start planning.

Read the guide for managing your research data

Download an editable template and view example plans

Indigenous data

refers to data, information or knowledge, including statistics, about Indigenous communities or individuals. As defined by the , this may include data about lands and environment, people and cultures. Indigenous is the right of all Indigenous peoples, communities and organisations to decide how they wish to maintain, control, protect, develop, and use data related to them or their (ICIP).

Partner with Indigenous peoples and apply the , to co-design research data management plans, ensuring Indigenous data sovereignty rights are respected at all stages of research.

Consult the following guidelines for working with Indigenous data:

NHMRC
Griffith’s GUREM Booklet 30: Research with ɫ��վn Indigenous Peoples.
The ɫ��վn Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) .
framework enabling collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics.
Walter et al.’s article .
explores 21st century challenges and best practice.

Griffith Indigenous Research Unit, and Ethics and Integrity Advisors can provide advice and support on planning research with Indigenous peoples that upholds Indigenous data sovereignty.

Common considerations

Can I get access to developers or specialist infrastructure?

eResearch services support the:

development and ongoing support of research applications and tools
acquisition of equipment, hardware, software or network resources.

Learn more

How do I protect sensitive data?

When collecting data that is considered sensitive—for example personal private data, health and medical data, or culturally sensitive data—carefully consider your storage solutions.

Not sure if your data is sensitive? Check these information security classification examples (Griffith staff and students only).