Effective Data Management for Grant Applications

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way social scientists can do research, moving much of it online.

This short workshop will introduce practical advice for data management of social science projects, including organization, documentation and metadata, data security, and participant confidentiality, with a particular focus on the implications of doing research online. As the situation gets more promising for in-person or hybrid field work, we’ll discuss the benefits and trade-offs involved.

The workshop will cover best practices for data management and writing data management plans that are now commonly required for external grant applications. Looking at online research and in-person field work, we will discuss strategies for recording and transcribing online interviews, effectively working with and saving web pages, and identifying collections of primary materials online.

The workshop is tailored for Social Sciences doctoral students. All SU community are welcome, although the event is geared toward students and faculty currently preparing grant applications (internal or external) for projects that include empirical data collection.

Sebastian Karcher is the Associate Director of the Qualitative Data Repository and Research Assistant Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. His main interests are in research transparency, management and curation of qualitative data, and the integration of technology into scholarly workflows.