The time for Love Data Week 2026 has come, with this year’s theme, “Where’s the Data?”, encouraging us to consider the journey that data undertakes from creation to application.
The first step in the journey of research data is its creation during the research process. At this stage, it’s important for you as researchers to understand how to keep track of the data you’re collecting. Without good data management practices, you may find yourself scrambling at the end of your research project to remember how you collected your data or where you put certain files in the first place.
Practicing good data management skills will prevent frustration in the future and make your research accessible and reproducible for future researchers. Here are a few quick tips on good data management to keep your data accessible and usable:
- Maintain thorough documentation of your data and the context in which it was created through the usage of README files, data dictionaries, and codebooks.
- Use optimal, non-proprietary file formats to ensure long-term access.
- Establish a consistent naming convention for files and organize them in hierarchical folders.
- Ensure data kept in spreadsheets are tidy and well-structured.
- Keep data in secure storage locations and have backups of all files.
To learn more about how Research Data Services can help you at any stage of your data journey, please visit our website or contact us.