Community Contributor

BuzzFeed

Are you and your data destined to live happily ever after? Take this quiz to find out!

What's Your Data Relationship?

Which is your “Documents” folder?

My grant is making me share my data!?

How did you interact with your data yesterday?

What happened to the data from your last project?

Choose your favorite cat.

You squeeze every bit of information from your dataset, and then leave it in the dust as you move on to your next research project. Did you know you can get credit for the datasets you create by sharing and citing them? Show your old data some love and leave it in a better place for others to love too. Cite your data, and make your data discoverable by sharing it in a data repository.

The User

Although clearly devoted to your data, you can’t help but to question whether you are doing right by them. You’re worried you’re hurting your data by forgetting important details about them, like which variables you included as covariates in previous analyses. Break the cycle of doubt by using better documentation - creating a codebook, keeping a research log, using comments in your statistical syntax. You’ll make your research more reproducible and re-gain your data’s trust.

The Doubter

It’s clear your data are important to you, and you fiercely protect them from any potential harm. However, once a project is over, there are many benefits to releasing your data to other researchers or the public. Many funders and journals now require sharing, and sharing can also increase your overall citations and the reproducibility of your work. There are many options for restricted data sharing, which won’t compromise the privacy and confidentiality of your data.

The Controller

While you may protest that you don’t even have data, your texts, materials, field notes, and codes are silently screaming otherwise. Although they may not fit into traditional definitions of “data”, these materials need love too. Creating strategies for managing and protecting your materials, including clear folder structures, file naming, and backups will help ensure they will still be there when you need them.

The Denier

You are data’s ideal partner! You love your data, and aren’t afraid of letting others love it too. You keep your data happy by engaging in reproducible research practices, documenting your work, and backing up regularly - keep it up! Ensure you get credit for your hard work by sharing your data through trusted repositories, which often preserve, index (i.e., help Google Scholar find it), and provide citations for your data.

The Dreamboat

About BuzzFeed Community

Community Brand Guidelines

BuzzFeed Community

Sorry, this content is <i>no longer</i> supported.

BuzzFeed Community Guidelines

BuzzFeed Community Leaderboard

BuzzFeed News has breaking stories and original reporting on politics, world news, social media, viral trends, health, science, technology, entertainment, and LGBTQ issues.

All the best animals on the internet. The snuggle is real.

BuzzFeed has breaking news, vital journalism, quizzes, videos, celeb news, Tasty food videos, recipes, DIY hacks, and all the trending buzz you’ll want to share with your friends. Copyright BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.

BuzzFeed News | Breaking News | Original Reporting | News Analysis

Animal Pictures and Videos - Adorably from BuzzFeed

Name

Thanks for subscribing!

Stay up to date with our latest BuzzFeed video. Enter your email to subscribe!

Oops! Upload an image or add text to submit.

BuzzFeed has the hottest, most social content on the web. We feature breaking buzz and the kinds of things you'd want to pass along to your friends.

What's Your Data Relationship?

Share This Article