Jisc Research Data Assessment Support - Findings of the 2016 data assessment framework (DAF) surveys

Jisc is developing a pilot research data shared service (RDSS), to help Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and researchers meet the requirements for the deposit and sharing of research data. The service is intended to offer easy deposit of data along with features such as discovery, safe storage, long-term archiving, and preservation. The aim of the project is to offer HEIs a managed service, which is expected to simplify the workflow for the preservation of research data.

In order to develop an effective service, Jisc wished to evaluate the current perception and understanding of Research Data Management (RDM) in HEIs. In this respect, Research Consulting was tasked with:

• developing a refined version of the data assessment framework (DAF) tool
• disseminating an online survey based on the refined DAF tool to gather data on existing RDM practices in six pilot institutions.

The survey findings summarised in this report provide an evidence base to benchmark the types of approaches to RDM chosen by the pilot institutions, highlight good practice, predict future trends, and identify relevant requirements for the new service proposed by Jisc.