Data Description and Metadata. What it takes to produce a good one?

Finding relevant research data is tremendously easier if the data are described in detail using controlled vocabularies and discipline-specific metadata. But this is still not enough. Data descriptions should be descriptions of data, scope, collection methods and use, not published research outputs and results. This skill is important for anyone describing research data in repository services, libraries, or research-producing organisations.

In this webinar, experts from the Finnish Social Sciences Data Archive, a service provider for CESSDA, explained how data are processed and described and what ingredients are needed from a researcher to produce rich metadata describing datasets. In addition, the tools supported by CESSDA for metadata production were presented. Presentations package includes the Q & A document from the discussion part of the webinar.