Begin planning for data management when your research project starts – and assign data management responsibilities to team members early on. Many research groups, and the organizations who fund them, standardize this process by writing a
data management plan.
Name and organize data according a schema (preferably an established data and metadata standard).
Document your data, metadata, variables, and other contextual information that would help someone understand and interpret the data (e.g., data dictionaries, READMEs, etc).
Keep original data files, use version control, and back up data in multiple locations.
Learn more about data storage options.
Assess for data validity and quality.
