Things to remember!

Whatever your data may be 

Remember to document and make backup copies! Write down what you are doing, where the data are stored, and what you have agreed with the research participants (subjects) or partners. All of these details are not recorded in the data management plan, but save them so that you can get back to them afterwards if needed.  

Make backup copies of the data so that you can return to an earlier version if something goes wrong. The data and backup copies should be stored on the university’s U drive, which is protected and backed up.

Potential licences and rights 

Different data may require different licences and rights. Follow good scientific practice and take into account, depending on the situation,    

• does your research need a permit
• data ownership and access rights    
• information security   
• guidelines for processing personal information 
• copyrights    

We will return to these topics during the data management plan.

Do the data include sensitive or confidential information?  

Examples of sensitive or confidential information: business secrets, personal details, information on endangered animal or plant species, data related to national security and crime sentences. Note that your thesis should not address highly sensitive information, such as the aforementioned “data related to national security” – the thesis is a public document.

Furthermore, a master’s thesis should not include data that could endanger the author or research participants when collected or published, or data that involve unreasonable risks. An example of this could be interview data collected in a war zone.