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Research Data Management & Sharing: Data Tools and Resources

This guide provides resources on research data management and sharing.

Why Use Data Tools?

Data tools can assist you with curating, analyzing, visualizing, managing, documenting, organizing, and sharing data. All of these tools listed here are completely free or have a free-version. 

LabArchives (Electronic Lab Notebook)

LabArchives

The University of Rochester has selected LabArchives as our institution-wide, electronic lab notebook solution. Researchers at UR can access LabArchives free of charge to manage both research labs and laboratory courses. Our team at UR Libraries’ can provide more information, help you get set-up in the platform, and troubleshoot any issues you encounter. We also facilitate regular training sessions for the platform provided directly from the experts at LabArchives.

LabArchives allows you to:

  • Organize your research and make your notebook searchable
  • Backup your research work on the cloud
  • Share your research or keep your work secure using LabArchives’ access controls
  • Add DOIs and make your work citable
  • Use LabArchives in your classes (with optional integration with Blackboard)

See our landing page for more information. 

Data Analysis and Visualization Tools

Jupyter

Jupyter Notebook is an open, free web application for creating and sharing computational documents. It supports over 40 programming languages, including Python, R, Julia, and Scala. Apache, Spark, pandas, scikit-learn, ggplot2, and TensorFlow can all be used within Jupyter Notebooks. 

R Studio.

RStudio is free program which uses the open-source programming language R. It can be used to analyze and visualize data, and RStudio is consistently creating new tools for R. The RStudio website has many guides and tutorials on how to use R. Modern Data Science with R is a great free textbook that can help you learn the basics of R. 

Tableau Public

Tableau Public is a free data visualization software that requires no coding. It can be easily be used to share your data visualizations online. The Tableau Public website has many resources and guides to help you learn on to use Tableau Public. 

DMPTool

DMPTool

Use the DMPTool to create your data management and sharing plans. The DMPTool walks you through the process of generating a comprehensive plan tailored to a funder's specific DMP requirements.

Qualitative Research Tools

Taguette

Taguette is a free and open-source tool for qualitative research. You can import your research materials, highlight and tag quotes, and export the results. User can:

  • Import PDFs, Word Docs (.docx), Text files (.txt), HTML, EPUB, MOBI, Open Documents (.odt), and Rich Text Files (.rtf).
  • Highlight words, sentences, or paragraphs and tag them with the codes you create.
  • Work collaboratively with other users (if self-hosting or using app.taguette.org).
  • Your data stays your own; export everything including your project, highlights, documents, and codes.

 

Data Curation Tools

OpenRefine

OpenRefine is a free tool which can be used to help you clean and curate your data. The OpenRefine website has many videos and guides on how to use it. 

Mapping Tools

ArcGIS

ArcGIS is an Esri web-based mapping software. Build interactive maps that explain your data and encourage users to explore. Map your own data and gain perspective by adding the authoritative location-based data included in ArcGIS Online. Use smart mapping to guide your data exploration and visualization. You can set up a free public account or contact our GIS Specialist to request University of Rochester institutional access to ArcGIS.

Digital Humanities Data Tools

Voyant

Voyant Tools is a free web-based reading and analysis environment for digital texts. It can be used to analyze digital text with no coding required. Voyant Tools has many tutorials you can use to help you learn more about it. 

Timeline JS

TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet. Experts can use their JSON skills to create custom installations, while keeping TimelineJS's core functionality. The TimelineJS website has tutorials and guides on how to use TimelineJS. 

storyline

Storyline JS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build an annotated, interactive line chart. It requires no coding experience, and the Storyline JS website has tutorials and guides on how to use it. 

StoryMap JS

StoryMapJS is a free tool to help you tell stories on the web that highlight the locations of a series of events. StoryMap JS can pull in media from a variety of sources, including Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Dailymotion, Google Maps, Wikipedia, SoundCloud, Document Cloud and more. 

Citing Data Tools

DataCite

DataCite is the leading global provider of DOIs for research data. 

Open Data Resources

  • The Turning Way Guidebook: The Turn Way handbook is an open source, open collaboration, and community-drive handbook on reproducible, ethical and collaborative data science. It includes guides on reproducible research, project design, communication, collaboration, and ethical research. 
  • Introduction to Cultural Analytics & Python by Melanie Walsh: This website hosts an online textbook which offers an introduction to the programming language Python that is specifically designed for people interested in the humanities and social sciences. 
  • Modern Data Science with R:  An open, online textbook that can help you learn the basics of R.