Research Data and Software Managment
+Last updated on 2024-12-09 | + + Edit this page
+ + + +Estimated time: 11 minutes
+ +Overview
+Questions
+- What is research data? +
- What is research software? +
- Why is important to properly describe, protect and share research +data and software? +
Objectives
+- Understand the importance of disseminating research data and the +code used for its generation +
- Undertand the benefits of a Research Data Management plan (via the +Turing Way) +
- Understad the difference between research code and software and the +benefits of a Software Management Plan +
Research Data Management
+Climate science has significant public interest, as it affects +people’s lives, economies, and ecosystems. Effective Research Data +Management supports open science initiatives by making data accessible +to the public, policymakers, and other stakeholders, increasing +transparency, and encouraging public engagement. This openness builds +trust and fosters greater awareness and informed decision-making +regarding climate action.
+Research Data Management underpins the accuracy, reproducibility, and +impact of research findings. It supports collaborative and transparent +science. In IPCC it helps ensure that investments in the realisation of +the assessments continue to benefit scientific inquiry and public +policy.
+Callout
+“The Turing Way”, an open science and community-driven project +focused on making data science more accessible, understandable, and +effective, offers a general overview on the purposes and practices that +motivates RDM, illustrating guidelines and useful approaches to put that +into practice.
+Reproducible +Research according to the Turing Way
+For instance some IPCC Working Groups may propose a Data +Management Plan.
+Software Management Plans
+Before diving into Software Management Plans, it is important to +highlight the distinctions between research code and research +software
+Rresearch Code is the individual, often +experimental, coding work that solves specific problems in the research +process, It is often a custom solution developed for a specific research +question or experiment. For instance the script used to generate one of +the figures in the IPCC reports.
+Research Software is a broader, often more stable +tool or platform that assists in conducting research across various +stages of the workflow. Both are critical components of modern research, +with research code often contributing to the development of research +software. Eg. the ESMVal Tool
+Key characteristics of Research Code
+- Custom and Domain-Specific: It is typically tailored to address the +unique needs of a particular research task or domain (e.g., +bioinformatics, physics simulations, social sciences). +
- Prototyping and Experimentation: Often experimental, evolving during +the research process as the researcher tests and refines ideas. This +could be in the form of scripts for data collection, analysis, or +visualization. +
- Reproducible: In many cases, research code is shared openly to +promote reproducibility and transparency. Open-source platforms like +GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket are commonly used for sharing and +collaborating on research code. Scripts my be expresssed as Jupyter +Notebooks and re-executed in Jupyter platforms like Jupyter Lab, Jupyter +Hub or Binder. +
Key characteristics of Research Sofware
+- Comprehensive and integrated: supporting tasks like data management, +analysis, and visualization, often with a user-friendly interface. For +instance, tools like SPSS, MS Excel, or Tableau. +
- Production-ready: stable, and maintainable, featuring error handling +and documentation. It can be domain-specific (e.g., statistical tools, +simulation platforms) or general-purpose (e.g., text editors, database +systems) and is widely used in research. +
Callout
+Some working groups may consdier to propose a Software Management +Plan. This is usually a document that addresses questions such as.
+- What does it do? +
- Who is it for? +
- What resources does it need? +
- Who is responsible? +
- What licence does it needs? +
Having such clarity early on, avoid problems later, with the +objective of facilitatng IPCC to deliver FAIR +code and software. Example of SMPs exists in many organisations. A +detailed list of elements that are relevant in the defintion of SMP +for Research Code and Software is provided by the Dutch insitute for +eScience.
+In IPCC, SMPs can have the scope to define key aspects which should +be taken into account by the authors, depending whether they will +develop and release simple scripts, for data analysis and visualisation +purposes, or more complex Research Software, like for instance a new IPCC Atlas.
+Challenge 1: Can you classify the following software types?
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+Key Points
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