This project, funded as part of the ESRC's Researcher Development Initiative, provided both practical training and training materials for students, researchers and support staff on key issues pertinent to managing and sharing social science research data.

This data management training project was funded by the ESRC as part of the Researcher Development Initiative which supports a range of advanced and specialist training and development activities for social scientists.

This project provided a programme of workshops around the country focused on activities in all aspects of 'data handling,' which is an area of need recognised across the UK. A number of travel bursaries were made available for postgraduate students to attend.

Training focused on the core skills that are vital for the practices of both primary data collection and secondary analysis:

• why and how to share research data
• ethics, consent and confidentiality when sharing research data
• data copyright and the use of existing data resources
• data description, contextualisation and documentation
• data formats and software
• data storage, back-up and security

These skills, which we would like to see become an integral part of all postgraduate training programmes, should not only maximise the impact of a researcher's own research but also foster greater appreciation of the use of secondary sources.

Archive contribution

The Research Data Management Support Services Section of the UK Data Archive managed this project as part of their wider remit to provide bespoke research data management support and training for social sciences researchers and research centres.

Principal investigator:  Louise Corti
Funder:  ESRC
Dates:  April 2010 - September 2011
Contact:  Research Data Management
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