Data Management SOP Survey_August 18 2022

Form
Approved
OMB No. 0990Approved for use through XX/XX/20XX

Data Management Standard Operating Procedures Survey
Introduction- In this data management survey, data management is defined as “the
process of validating, organizing, protecting, maintaining, and processing scientific data
to ensure the accessibility, reliability, and quality of the scientific data to its users.” The
research lifecycle is the process that a researcher takes to complete a project or study
from its inception to its completion. Data management is involved in every step of the
research process. These terms may appear in the survey items.
Q1. During the last 5 years, which of the following roles did you hold on a research
project you were involved with where there were data management, data processing,
data storage, data sharing, or data analysis tasks? (check all that apply)
Principal investigator
CO-investigator
Collaborator
Consultant
Postdoc
Doctoral student
Master’s student
Project manager
Other (please specify):

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Q2. During the last 5 years, was any of your research activity supported by the following
agencies? (check all that apply)
ACF (ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES)
ACL (ADMINISTRATION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING)
AHRQ (AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH & QUALITY'S)

ASA (ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO ADMINISTRATION)
ASFR (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL RESOURCES)
ASH (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH)
ASPA (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
ASPE (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PLANNING & EVALUATION)
ASPR (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE)
ASL (ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR LEGISLATION)
ATSDR (AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY)
CDC (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION)
CFBNP (CENTER FOR FAITH-BASED & NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS)
CMS (CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES)
CTO (OFFICE OF THE CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICE)
DAB (DEPARTMENT APPEALS BOARD)
FDA (FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION)
HHS (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES)
HRSA (HEALTH RESOURCES & SERVICES ADMINISTRATION'S)
IEA (OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL & EXTERNAL AFFAIRS)
IHS (INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE)
IOS (IMMEDIATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY)
NIH (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH)
OCR (OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS)
OGA (OFFICE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS)
OGC (OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL)
OIG (OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL'S)
OMHA (OFFICE OF MEDICARE HEARINGS & APPEALS)
ONC (OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY)
ONS (OFFICE OF NATIONAL SECURITY)
SAMHSA (SUBSTANCE ABUSE & MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION)
Other (please specify):
All of the above

Q3. Were you or your lab involved in the following activities? (check all that apply)
Data collection
Data processing
Data storage
Data sharing
Data documentation
Data reporting
Other (please specify):
All of the above

Q4. Do you have a data management standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the
project? (FYI, data management SOPs usually describe how, at a practical level,
research data from the time of acquisition are: handled, stored, retained, and shared
within a research group, with collaborators, and across the broader scientific
community.) If “Yes” please check the following areas where data management SOPs
are adopted (check all that apply)
Yes, if “Yes” please check the following areas where data management SOPs are adopted
(check all that apply)
Data collection
Data processing
Data storage
Data sharing
Data reporting
No
Not sure what data management SOP is
Other (please specify):

Q5. How often do you or your lab develop data management SOPs for your research
projects?
Always
Often

Sometimes
Rare
Never
Does not apply
Often adopt an established one and revise

Q6. What are your or your lab’s reasons for having data management SOPs? (check all
that apply)
Required by funding agency
Required by institution
Required by supervisor/research group leader
Good research practice
Other (please specify):
Often adopt an established one and revise

Q7. What are your or your lab’s reasons for not having data management SOPs? (check
all that apply)
Not required by project funder
Lack of knowledge or experience with creating a data management plan
Unaware of any tools or guidance that could help with creating data management plan
Not required/appropriate to field of research
Time and effort required
Lack of training/expertise within research group
Lack of local support/guidance
Absence of institutional data management policy
Do not know
Other (please specify):

Q8. Do you or your lab often develop metadata for your research project (if rare or never,
skip the next question)? (FYI - Metadata is simply data about data, such as the

description and context of the data. It helps to organize, find, and understand data).
Always
Often
Sometimes
Rare
Never
Do not know what metadata is
Does not apply

Q9. Is your or your lab metadata usually auto-generated with a software tool or selfdeveloped?
Auto-generated
Self-developed
Not sure
Does not apply

Q10. Do you or your lab usually develop a record-keeping practice for the following
lifecycles of your project? (FYI - Record keeping is the practice of tracking information,
including needed documentation, in a systematic way.) (check all that apply)
Organizing research projects
Planning experiments
Recording data
Analyzing the results
Storing these records for future reference
Other (please specify):
None of the above (note of select "None of the above", all check boxes should be unchecked)

Q11. Which of the following would help you or your lab sustain a record-keeping
practice? (check all that apply)
Requirement by funding agency

Get an online training course (such as a seminar, webinar, etc.)
Get a document (publications, white papers, etc.) on record-keeping best practices
Buy a book on record-keeping best practices
Acquire a software tool that provides record-keeping best practices
Other (please specify):

Q12. What kinds of data do the research projects that you or your lab are involved with
generate?
Experimental, e.g., captured in the laboratory, including but not limited to gene sequences,
chromatograms, etc.
Observational, e.g., sensor readings, sensory observations, etc.
Computational/Simulation, e.g., computer-generated from test models, disease spread
production model, etc.
Derived, e.g., text and data mining, compiled databases, etc.
Other (please specify):
Does not apply

Q13. What practices do you or your lab follow in managing your organization of data?
(check all that apply)
Create a data dictionary to describe data
Use data validation to avoid data entry errors
Chose self-explanatory file names so that the data files can easily be found
File folders are logically organized (such as chronological organization at each level)
Maintain data organization with a lab notebook with detailed information on data
Maintain data organization with an online lab notebook with detailed information on data
Create a “Readme” file to store every command line used for data collection and organization
Use a version of control software (such as Subversion) to store all versions of a given collection
of related files.
Other (please specify):
None of these

Q14. Which types of digital files/records/data are generated from your or your lab’s
research (check all that apply)? (If you select two or more items, please also rank them
in the next screen.)
Audio files (e.g., interviews, instructions for the experimental procedures, etc.)
Data automatically generated from or by computer programs
Data collected from sensors/instruments (e.g., microscopes)
Databases (e.g., Excel, Access, SQL, MySQL, Oracle)
Digital photographs and other images
Documents or reports (e.g., Word, PDF, etc.)
Genomic data
GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
Laboratory notebooks (digital)
Observational data
Spreadsheets
Standard operating procedures and protocols
Survey results & interview transcripts
Text files (e.g., .txt)
Video files
Websites and blogs
Non-digital research data (e.g., notebooks, physical samples, field notes, etc.)
Other (please specify):

Q14. This is a follow-up question to the previous question: Please rank your choices
from the previous question to reflect how frequently these types of digital
files/records/data are generated as part of your or your lab’s research. (Items at the top
of the list are those that are generated more frequently, those at the bottom are
generated less frequently.)

»

Audio files (e.g., interviews, instructions for the experimental procedures, etc.)

»

Data automatically generated from or by computer programs

»

Data collected from sensors/instruments (e.g., microscopes)

» Databases (e.g., Excel, Access, SQL, MySQL, Oracle)
»

Digital photographs and other images

»

Documents or reports (e.g., Word, PDF, etc.)

»

Genomic data

» GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
»

Laboratory notebooks (digital)

»

Observational data

»

Spreadsheets

»

Standard operating procedures and protocols

» Survey results & interview transcripts
»

Text files (e.g., .txt)

»

Video files

»

Websites and blogs

»

Non-digital research data (e.g., notebooks, physical samples, field notes, etc.)

» Other (please specify):

Q15. What kinds of non-digital research data do you or your lab store? (check all that
apply)
Specimens
Samples
Paper records/portfolios
Consent forms
Questionnaires
Notebooks/Lab books
Sketches
Films

Videos
Other (please specify):

Q16. Do you or your lab create digital copies of these data?
Yes
Sometimes
No

Q17. Who would you usually expect to access and use your or your lab’s research data,
apart from yourself? (check all that apply)
Only myself
Other researchers at my institution
Researchers at other academic institutions
Funders
Publishers
General public
Other (please specify):

Q18. Does your or your lab’s data usually contain any of the following? (check all that
apply)
Personally identifying data about living individuals
Sensitive personal data
Patient-identifiable data
Commercially sensitive data
Other types of confidential/restricted data
None of the above
Not sure

Q19. Do you or your lab always retain data on at least two different types of storage
media or at another location?

Yes
Sometimes
No

Q20. How many years do you or your lab usually maintain older data for your research
project?
1-2 years
3-4 years
5 or more years
Indefinitely
Other (please specify)

Q21. Which of the following security measures do you or your lab use to protect your
files and data? (check all that apply)
Access logging
Anonymization
Encryption
Password protection of files
Physical security (e.g., locked room, controlled access to premises)
Not sure
Other (please give details):
None

Q22. Please indicate roughly how much of your or your lab’s digital research data is held
in each of the following locations. (The answer options for each item are: a) None, b)
Some, c) Substantial, d) All), e) n/a
d)
a)
b)
c)
None Some Substantial All N/A
Hard disk drive of a computer owned by my institution
Hard disk drive of a privately-owned computer
External hard drive

d)
a)
b)
c)
None Some Substantial All N/A
Memory sticks
Institution-managed network storage
CD/DVD
Cloud service – Dropbox
Cloud service - Google Drive
Cloud service – OneDrive
Cloud service – Box
Cloud service – Other

Q23. If you or your lab have collected research data and recorded it on paper, how do
you make sure the data are entered into an electronic format accurately? (check all that
apply)
Double entry (data are entered twice in order to check for mismatches and other data entry
errors)
Single data entry – data entered by one staff.
Software scan
Other (please describe):

Q24. How do you or your lab currently track and manage your data during the active
phase of your research project? (check all that apply)
Dedicated data management software (please specify)
In a local database (e.g., within research group)
In a spreadsheet
In an electronic logbook
In a paper logbook
Other (please specify):
None of the above

Q25. How often is your or your lab’s data during the active phase of the research project
backed up by you,or your colleagues, or your institution?

I do not know
Immediately upon creation
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
On request
At the end of the project
Never

Q26. What is your or your lab’s primary backup solution for your digital research data?
Institution-managed backup storage
Cloud Drive (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
External hard drive or memory stick/USB/Flash drive
Hard disk drive of a computer owned by the university
Hard disk drive of a privately owned computer
Third party (including commercial data storage)
A discipline-specific or generalist repository
CD/DVD
I do not know
Other (please specify):

Q27. Have you or your lab ever lost any research data?
Yes
No

Q28. If you or your lab ever lost research data, what was the cause of the loss? (check
all that apply)
Notebook damage
File deleted by mistake and was unable to retrieve for some reason

Environmental disaster such as fire or flood
Equipment failure
Equipment stolen
I do not know
Disk crash
Other (please specify):

Q29. What was the impact of the loss of person-days? (please estimate how many
person-days)
person-days
1-5

6-10 11-20 21-30

> 30

N/A

Wasted research effort:
Delay to publication:
Reputational damage:
Failure to meet funder requirements:
Reduction in quality of research outputs:
Failure to meet regulatory requirements:
Other (please specify):

Q30. At the minimum, what information should a data management standard operating
procedure contain? (check all that apply)
Types of data
Samples
Data collections
Software
Metadata
Data security
Data distribution policy
Other (please specify):

Q31. Do you or your lab follow any guidelines to ensure good documentation of your
data?
Yes
Sometimes
No

Q32. When you describe your research data, what do you usually consider? (check all
that apply)
How the data was generated?
The format of the data
The number of records and the number of files
The stages the data pass through (e.g., raw, processed, analyzed, etc.)
What software tools you used to collect data
What hardware tools you used to collect data

Q33. What standard format(s) do you or your lab usually use for managing or
maintaining data? (check all that apply)
CSV
Excel
Access
ASCII (text)
SAS
SPSS
Stata
R
XML
Database (SQL/MySQL, Oracle, etc.)
JPEG (or JPG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
PNG - Portable Network Graphics
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
TIFF - Tagged Image File

PSD - Photoshop Document
PDF - Portable Document Format
EPS - Encapsulated Postscript
AI - Adobe Illustrator Document
INDD - Adobe Indesign Document
RAW - Raw Image Formats
Other (please specify)

Q34. What standard format(s) do you or your lab usually use for disseminating data?
(check all that apply)
CSV
Excel
Access
ASCII (text)
SAS
SPSS
Stata
R
XML
Database (SQL/MySQL, Oracle, etc.)
JPEG (or JPG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
PNG - Portable Network Graphics
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
TIFF - Tagged Image File
PSD - Photoshop Document
PDF - Portable Document Format
EPS - Encapsulated Postscript
AI - Adobe Illustrator Document
INDD - Adobe Indesign Document
RAW - Raw Image Formats

Other (please specify)

Q35. How do you or your lab currently share data with others such as your colleagues,
collaborators, or others who are interested in your data? (check all that apply)
By emailing data files
Using a cloud storage service, e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
Using portable storage, such as CDs, DVDs, memory sticks, etc.
By uploading to a website or FTP server accessible to other researchers
Institutional file-sharing service
Deposit in a public repository/data center
Deposit in institutional repository
Publish it on a website
Publish it in a data journal or other formal publication
Share it on an academic social network
Include it as supplementary data to a published article
Deposit on a code-sharing platform (e.g., GitHub)
Other (please specify):

Q36. Are you or your lab willing to share your research data publicly, once the research
is complete?
Yes, I already have done so
I do not currently, but expect to do so in future
No
Not sure

Q37. Why would you or your lab be unwilling to share your data publicly? (Please check
all that apply)
I do not want others to see my data
I do not know how to share it easily
I want to keep the data to do further research

I do not have funding to cover the costs involved
It is impractical to share the data due to its size
It is impractical to share the data due to its format
Never considered it
No data center for the discipline
No re-use potential
Not required by funder
Sensitive/confidential data
Waiting for the university to set up a data archive
I do not have permission to share the data
I want to patent/commercialize my research
I do not want my data to be used for commercial purposes
Other (please specify):

Q38. When you or your lab report your data, do you validate or cross-validate the
results?
Yes
Sometimes
No
Does not apply

Q39. Are you or your lab always willing to share your raw data with other colleagues?
(may add a follow-up question)
Yes, if yes, please answer the following (check all apply)
Who recorded the data?
When did they record it?
Where was the measurement preformed (at which facility)?
What system and instrument(s) were used?
Why were they measuring it?
Was it part of a standard operating procedure (SOP)?
What was the name of the SOP step that they were performing?

No

Q40. If you or your lab share the data, are you concerned that others may validate the
results you reported and may find results that may suggest your original reports might
have errors?
Yes
Sometimes
No
Does not apply

Q41. When you or your lab share your data, do you prepare a codebook or user guide
for your others?
Yes
Sometimes
No
Does not apply

Q42. When you or your lab share your data, do you prepare the methodology about your
data?
Yes
Sometimes
No
Does not apply

Q43. Does your institution have a data management policy document?
Yes
No
Does not apply

Q44. Does your institution provide a protocol on procedures, standards, and guidelines
for data management?

Yes
No
Does not apply

Q45. Do you expect to make use of institutional services designed to support data
management and sharing?
I already use these services
I do not currently use these services, but I expect to in the future
I do not expect to use these services
I do not know what services are available
There are no services available
Not sure

Q46. How concerned are you about the following data management issues? (The
options for each item are: a) Not at all concerned, b) Slightly concerned, c) Somewhat
concerned, d) Moderately concerned, e) Quite concerned)
b)
a) Not at
c)
Slightly Somewhat d) Quite
all
concerned concerned concerned concerned c
Delays in getting access to data
Disputes over ownership of research data, e.g.,
conflicts over intellectual property rights
Inability to access data due to obsolescence,
expired software license, etc.
Insufficient storage space for research data
Insufficient security over confidential data
Inability to interpret data (e.g., due to poor/lost
documentation or inadequate descriptions)
Inability to maintain control of my data and
understand how it is used

Lack of file-naming/metadata conventions

making it difficult to retrieve data

Q47. Would you value training on any of the following? (check all that apply)
Citing research data
Collaboration and sharing of data
Citing software
Copyright and intellectual property rights within a data context
Creating or working with .xml documents (including text-mining)
Data licensing
Developing a research data management plan for a funding application
Ethics, consent, and legal issues with research data
Funder requirements for research data management
Guidance on costing data management in grant applications
Long-term storage of your data
Publishing research data
Security of data
Support in data selection, metadata creation, and licensing for preservation
Technical support for data processing (e.g., database design, High Performance Computing
(HPC))
Other (please specify):
None

Q48. Would you be interested in a data management standard operating procedures
(DMSOP) online toolkit where you could point and click to generate your own DMSOP
document?
Yes
No
Not sure

Q49. Please provide any further comments or observations you would like to make on
support for research data collection procedures:

Q50. Please provide any further comments or observations you would like to make on
support for research data processing procedures:

Q51. Please provide any further comments or observations you would like to make on
support for research data storage procedures:

Q52. Please provide any further comments or observations you would like to make on
support for research data sharing procedures:

Q53. Please provide any further comments or observations you would like to make on
support for research data reporting procedures: