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Data management involves collecting, organising, storing, securing, and maintaining data to ensure its quality, accessibility, and integrity. In medical research, it includes planning data collection, ensuring quality, organising for retrieval, protecting sensitive information, and preparing data for analysis and sharing.

Why is it important?

  • Proper data management ensures data is accurate, consistent, and free from errors.
  • Adhering to legal and ethical standards, such as Good Clinical Practice (GCP), is critical.
  • Well-organised data reduces time spent searching or cleaning data, speeding up research processes.
  • Proper documentation and data sharing enable others to replicate studies, ensuring scientific validity.
  • Many funders and journals require data to be shared in public repositories, making good management essential for meeting these mandates.
  • Research data often needs to be accessible for the long term. Good management ensures data remains usable over time.

How to manage data effectively

  1. Develop a data management plan.
  2. Observe Monash Health policies.
  3. Use standardised data collection methods.
  4. Organise and describe data and metadata in a meaningful way.
  5. Store data appropriately.
  6. Protect privacy.
  7. Document everything.
  8. Prepare for sharing.
  9. Preserve or dispose.

Recommended resources:

Data Collection & Storage Guide

Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (2023). Effective strategies to manage data integrity risks - Data transparency webinar series.

A data management plan (DMP) is a formal document detailing how data will be collected, organised, stored, shared, and preserved throughout a research project. It typically covers data description, collection methods, storage and security, access and sharing, preservation, and roles and responsibilities.

Why is it important?

  • It ensures compliance with ethical, legal, and funding requirements.
  • It ensures the longevity and preservation of your data.

Recommended resources

DataOne. (2012). DataONE Education Module 03: Data Management Planning.

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