Research Data Services
Data Collection Best Practices
Designing a research proposal involves making decisions about how to represent information from the real world as data for analysis. Areas to consider include:
- Are you ethically upholding institutional and community data collection standards?
- What framework will you be using to collect your data, and why?
- How will quality control be integrated into data collection protocols?
- If you are collecting human subjects data, how can you build privacy into your study design?
- How can data collection processes anticipate the rest of the data life cycle?
Selected data collection resources:
- IU Research ComplianceIndiana University Office of Research's guidelines and procedures site.
- Springer ProtocolsA database of lab protocols covering biomedical and life sciences disciplines from Nature methods journals.
- NIH Informed Consent for Secondary Research with Data and BiospecimensThis document contains fill-in-the-blank templates to address potential secondary data reuse in the informed consent process.
File Naming Conventions
Establishing a file naming convention before data collection starts allows you to scale data findability as you generate data throughout the project period. A file naming convention protects you from losing time searching for files, and enhances machine-readability. This in turn streamlines data analysis and validation processes.
Here is an example of a file naming convention:
File Formats
When you have the option, choosing an open source file format during data collection means that your data will be more accessible and interoperable than if you used a proprietary format. Open source formats lower the barrier for other researchers to reuse your data, increasing the potential for future impact in the data you create.
| Text | .txt, .html, .pdf (some types are proprietary to Adobe) |
|---|---|
| Images | .jpeg, .png, .tiff (specifications are open; .tiff is trademarked by Adobe) |
| Tabular | .csv |
| Audio | .flac (lossless codec), .mp3 (lossy codec) |
| Compression | .7z, .gz, .tar |
REDCap
REDCap is a secure, web-based platform that supports data collection and data management for research, operations support, and quality improvement projects. This tool is free and access is provided by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), UITS Advanced Biomedical IT Core, and IUSM Department of Biostatistics.
- Getting started with IUREDCapProvides instruction on how to create an account and access training materials.
Common Data Elements
Common data elements (CDEs) are standard ways of setting variables for data collection that increase the interoperability of your scientific data, and open up opportunities for extending your research impact. A CDE allows specific responses to defined questions. Datasets created with the same CDEs can be harmonized without losing information.
The NIH CDE Repository is a central location to find existing CDEs.
- NIH CDE Repository Form SearchData collection instruments composed of individual CDEs are called "forms" in this repository. Search by keyword to find relevant forms.