CMU Library Data Collection and Data Services

What is research data?

“recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings including data sets used to support scholarly publications." Spichtinger and Siren (2018)

Sources of research data 

Research data can be broadly categorized into primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original materials collected firsthand by the researcher, such as surveys, interviews, observations, and experiments, while secondary data sources involve existing data collected by someone else. Secondary sources analyze or interpret information from primary sources, like published literature and data: journal articles, books, newspapers, government documents, published or shared datasets. CMU library collections provide many types of secondary data sources. 

Primary and secondary sources can be quantitative and qualitative. 

Collection methods research data

Researchers collect data using two methods: qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative is a more objective type of method because it uses conventional standards of reliability and validity: numbers. Qualitative data use empirical means, such as interviews, observations, content analysis, visual materials, and personal experience. In addition, qualitative data doesn’t need to be constrained to text; images, like photographs, video, and audio recordings can also be considered qualitative data. An anthropologist collecting oral history and recording it is a type of qualitative data collection.

What is a dataset?

A dataset is a structured collection of related data, often organized in tables or databases, that is used for research, analysis, or processing. It can include various types of data, such as numerical data, texts, images, or videos.

Why use datasets?

Researchers use existing datasets to conduct secondary analyses to investigate new hypotheses, verify or replicate the results of a study, or to aggregate data across multiple studies such as meta analysis and systematic review. Researchers often use large datasets for secondary research to identify and analyze trends, to build and test theoretical models, etc. 

Where can I find datasets?

• CMU Library subscribed databases for CMU affiliated users
• Open data including datasets produced by government, open repositories for the public
• Academic journals increasingly require authors to share the datasets associated with their research findings. A reference to the dataset can be found in the published article.