Research data management does not end in finishing the research project. Even after the research, you should remember how you planned to manage the research data. Once your research is done, data management means storing the research data temporarily or permanently. In regards to storing the finished data, consider at least the following:
- What agreements did you make with your research subjects? How did you promise to process and store the research data in your research plan and in research? Follow the agreements you have made regarding your research.
- Does your department have instructions for the retention period of research data? A general retention period for research data recommended by the University of Turku is five (5) years. The retention period for medical research data is longer, fifteen (15) years.
- Where can you store your research data securely? If you continue working at the university after completing your thesis, you can use the storage solutions offered by the university. If you graduate after your thesis, a private solution should be used for storing the research data. Especially when using a private device, you should ensure the data security and good condition of the device throughout the retention period.
- You can also store your research data, for example, on Zenodo, which is a general research data repository. If you use Zenodo, make sure to store your data with closed access, unless you have asked for consent from your research subjects to publish the data with open access.
- Remember that the information given in the data protection notice applies until the end of your research data’s life cycle, which means the notice is still in effect also after the completion of your research. If you have not informed your research subjects about a possible data transfer to third countries, you cannot store your research data in a commercial cloud service even after the research.
- If the research data needs to be moved from one place to another, for example, from the university’s service to a private device, make sure that the transfer happens securely. You may for example use Seafile, from where you can download the files directly to your private device.
- If you have agreed to retain the research data for a specific period of time and to destroy it after that period, remember to also do so. Even when using the university’s online storage services, destroying the data is your responsibility.
