Jump to Gathering Data Resources
The term data can refer to many things, including writings, films, sound recordings, pictorial reproductions, drawings, designs, or other graphic representations, procedural manuals, forms, diagrams, workflow charts, equipment descriptions, data files, statistical records, and other research data. This section discusses tools that will help you collect and store research data, including data collection tools, core facilities that process research samples, data storage options, and consultation services. See the featured resources below for examples.
Featured resources
- Equipment, Services, and Training: The Research Cores Directory can help you find facilities that can find equipment, technologies, services, and training to gather samples and turn your research samples into data.
- Collecting data: Collect survey data using Qualtrics Survey Hosting Service. Need help with Study design and implementation? Contact the Survey Center. If you need help transcribing audio/video files, see how IRB and DoIT’s approved/pre-vetted transcription services compare. And if you are traveling for your data collection, the Division of Business Services can help you plan your trip and your reimbursement.
- Finding data: Research Data Services (RDS) consultants can help you navigate the research data storage landscape at UW-Madison, give advice on data organization, and help with many other topics. The RDS website includes a list of national, non-profit, local, and search engine resources for finding research data. Both RDS Consultants and your subject librarians are available to assist with finding datasets. The Wisconsin Research Data Center (WiscRDC) is another campus resource and is part of the Census Bureau’s Federal Statistical Research Data Center network. Projects using WiscRDC data must first be approved by the WiscRDC.
- Storing data: The UW-Madison Data Storage Finder on the RDS website can help you identify the best campus storage solutions for your research data. Research Drive also provides 5 TB of storage for research PIs at no cost, with additional storage available for purchase.
- Sharing data collaboratively: The Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) service provides access to the LabArchives ELN platform to research groups at no cost. This service allows researchers to store their data and research notes together and easily share them with collaborators. In any project, if you are sharing sensitive data or sharing data with external sources, Data Transfer and Use Agreements (DTUAs) typically need to be reviewed and signed by someone with campus signatory authority. If you’re not sure where to get started with this, RDS can help you review the requirements in the DTUA, connect you to the appropriate campus resources, and connect you to the IT support you’ll need.
Resources for Gathering Data
| Resource | Tags | Lifecycle_Stage | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Printing | 3d, fabrication | Analyze & Visualize Data, Outreach | https://3dprinting.wisc.edu/ |
| Amazon Mechanical Turk | surveys | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome |
| American Family Insurance Data Science Institute | data science research, collaboration | Plan, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://datascience.wisc.edu/institute/ |
| ARROW: Application Review for Research Oversight at Wisconsin | animals, human subjects, oversight, safety | Plan, Reporting, Security & Compliance | http://arrow.wisc.edu/ |
| Biochemistry Facilities | biological, collaboration, dissemination, equipment, grants, imaging, instruments, microscopy, support, training | Gather Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://biochem.wisc.edu/facilities |
| Box | collaboration, data storage | Gather Data | https://it.wisc.edu/services/box/ |
| CALS Statistical Consulting | data analysis, grants, statistics, support | Analyze & Visualize Data | https://calslab.cals.wisc.edu/stat-consulting/ |
| Campus Software Library | software | Plan, Analyze & Visualize Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://it.wisc.edu/services/software/ |
| Cayuse424 | grants | Plan | https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/cayuse/ |
| CCI: Campus Computing Infrastructure | cloud computation, data storage, databases, networking, security, support, web hosting | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://cci.wisc.edu/ |
| CHTC: Center for High-throughput Computing | collaboration, computation, facilitation, high performance, high throughput, training | Analyze & Visualize Data | https://chtc.cs.wisc.edu/ |
| CISR: Cancer Informatics Shared Resource | bioinformatics, image analysis, clinical informatics | Plan, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://cancer.wisc.edu/research/resources/cisr/ |
| CITI Portal: Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative | effort, human subjects, oversight, policies, portal, reporting, training | Plan, Reporting, Security & Compliance | https://my.gradsch.wisc.edu/citi/index.php |
| D2P: Discovery to Product | funding, support | Plan, Outreach | http://d2p.wisc.edu/ |
| Data Science Hub | collaboration, computation, data analysis, data management, databases, facilitation, high performance, high throughput, macroresource, support, training | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://datascience.wisc.edu/ |
| Design Lab | data visualization, support | Publish Research Artifacts, Outreach | https://designlab.wisc.edu/ |
| DiscoverPD | professional development | No Specific Step | http://my.grad.wisc.edu/discoverpd |
| DMPTool | data management | Plan | http://dmptool.org/ |
| DoIT Computer Rental | equipment | No Specific Step | http://it.wisc.edu/services/rentals |
| DoIT Web Hosting | support, web hosting | Gather Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://www.doit.wisc.edu/services/web-hosting |
| DoIT: Division of Information Technology | macroresource, networking, security, support | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://it.wisc.edu/ |
| DPPS: Digital Publishing and Printing Services | publications | Publish Research Artifacts, Outreach | https://it.wisc.edu/services/digital-publishing-and-printing/ |
| ECRT: Effort Reporting Tool | effort, reporting, training | Reporting, Security & Compliance | https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/effort/ |
| ED/SBS IRB: Education and Behavioral Science IRB | human subjects, oversight, policies | Security & Compliance | https://research.wisc.edu/compliance-policy/human-research-protection-program/education-and-social-behavioral-science-irb/ |
| EH&S: UW Environment, Health, & Safety | biological, equipment, health, reporting, safety | Security & Compliance | https://ehs.wisc.edu/ |
| ELN: Electronic Lab Notebooks | cloud, collaboration, data management, data storage, facilitation, metadata | Gather Data | https://eln.wisc.edu/ |
| Export Control Program | biological, dissemination, equipment, instruments, oversight, policies, security, software | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://research.wisc.edu/respolcomp/exportcontrol/ |
| FastLane | grants | Plan | http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/ |
| Federal Select Agent Program | animals, biological, health, oversight, safety | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://www.selectagents.gov/ |
| Finding Funding | funding, grants | Plan | http://www.rsp.wisc.edu/funding/ |
| G Suite | cloud, collaboration, data management, data storage, software, writing | Gather Data | https://it.wisc.edu/services/google-apps/ |
| HS-IRBs: Health Sciences IRBs | health, human subjects, oversight, policies | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://kb.wisc.edu/hsirbs |
| ICTR BARD: ICTR Biostatistics and Research Design Resource | collaboration, data analysis, statistics, support | Plan, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://ictr.wisc.edu/Biostatistics |
| ICTR BMI: ICTR Biomedical Informatics | collaboration, data storage, grants, health | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://ictr.wisc.edu/BMI |
| ICTR: Institute for Clinical and Translational Research | data management, health, imaging, statistics | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://ictr.wisc.edu/ |
| Illuminating Discovery Hub | collaboration, macroresource, outreach, support, training | Outreach | http://illuminatingdiscovery.wisc.edu/ |
| Internet Scout: Collection Workflow Integration System | metadata, software | Gather Data | http://scout.wisc.edu/ |
| LinkedIn Learning | computation, data analysis, data visualization, databases, graphics, software, statistics, surveys, training, writing | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data, Publish Research Artifacts, Outreach | http://it.wisc.edu/services/online-training/ |
| MINDS@UW | collaboration, dissemination, facilitation, library, metadata, preservation, publications | Publish Research Artifacts, Security & Compliance | http://minds.wisconsin.edu/ |
| Multi-Omics Hubs | biological, collaboration, data analysis, facilitation, imaging, macroresource, support, training | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://multi-omics.wisc.edu/ |
| NEOS | data analysis, high performance | Analyze & Visualize Data | http://neos-server.org/neos/ |
| Office 365 | cloud, collaboration, data storage, databases, software | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://it.wisc.edu/services/office-365/ |
| Office of Cybersecurity | policies, security, training | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data, Security & Compliance | https://it.wisc.edu/about/division-of-information-technology/enterprise-information-security-services/cybersecurity/ |
| Overleaf | cloud, collaboration, publications, writing | Publish Research Artifacts | http://www.overleaf.com/ |
| PAS: Public Access Service | data management, guide, policies, publications | Publish Research Artifacts, Reporting, Security & Compliance | http://pas.wisc.edu/ |
| PI Portal | funding, grants, oversight, portal, reporting, training | Plan, Reporting, Security & Compliance | http://research.wisc.edu/researchers/pi-portal/ |
| QDA Tools at MERIT | data analysis, support, training | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://website.education.wisc.edu/qdatools/ |
| Qualtrics Survey Hosting Service | data storage, metadata, surveys | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://it.wisc.edu/services/surveys-qualtrics/ |
| RADD: Recovering Analog and Digital Data | data storage, preservation, video | Gather Data | http://www.library.wisc.edu/slis/services/radd/ |
| RDS: Research Data Services | data management, dissemination, facilitation, grants, preservation, training | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data, Publish Research Artifacts, Security & Compliance | http://researchdata.wisc.edu/ |
| Research Core Directory | biological, computation, equipment, health, imaging, instruments, macroresource, microscopy, training | Gather Data | https://resources.research.wisc.edu/ |
| Research Cyberinfrastructure | cloud, data storage, ELN | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://researchci.it.wisc.edu/ |
| Research Drive | collaboration, data storage, security | Gather Data | https://it.wisc.edu/services/researchdrive/ |
| RSP: Research and Sponsored Programs | funding, grants, policies, reporting, support, training | Plan, Closeout, Reporting, Security & Compliance | http://www.rsp.wisc.edu/ |
| Science Outreach on Campus | communication, collaboration | Outreach | https://science.wisc.edu/ |
| SSCC: Social Science Computing Cooperative | data analysis, data storage, macroresource, software, statistics, training | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/ |
| STS: DoIT Software Training for Students | computation, data analysis, databases, graphics, software, training | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | https://it.wisc.edu/services/training/ |
| The Survey Center | surveys, metadata | Gather Data | https://uwsc.wisc.edu/ |
| TRAD: Teaching & Research Application Development | data visualization, software, support | Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data | http://at.doit.wisc.edu/trad/ |
| UC: University Communications | collaboration, dissemination, graphics, media, publications, video | Publish Research Artifacts, Outreach | http://uc.wisc.edu/ |
| UW Office of Legal Affairs | human subject, intellectual property, safety, security | Reporting, Security & Compliance | https://legal.wisc.edu/ |
| UW-Madison Data Storage Finder | storage | Gather Data | https://storage.researchdata.wisc.edu/ |
| UW-Madison Extension | collaboration | Outreach | https://extension.wisc.edu/ |
| UW-Madison Libraries | grants, library, preservation, publications | Plan, Publish Research Artifacts | https://www.library.wisc.edu/ |
| UW-Madison Libraries Research Guides | guide, library, macroresource | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/ |
| UWDC: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections | collaboration, library, preservation | Gather Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/ |
| VCRGE: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education | funding, grants, intellectual property | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://research.wisc.edu/ |
| WARF: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation | collaboration, dissemination, funding, intellectual property, policies, support | Plan, Security & Compliance | http://www.warf.org/ |
| Wikipedia Software Comparison Charts | software | Plan, Gather Data, Analyze & Visualize Data, Publish Research Artifacts | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Software_comparisons |
| WINRS: Wisconsin Network for Research Support | collaboration, dissemination, health, human subjects, media, outreach, video | Plan, Gather Data, Outreach | http://winrs.son.wisc.edu/ |
| WiscWeb WordPress Service | collaboration, web hosting | Outreach | http://wiscweb.wisc.edu/ |
| WISER: University of Wisconsin System Enterprise Reporting | reporting | Closeout, Reporting | https://rsp.wisc.edu/WISER/ |
| WISPER: WISconsin Proposal Electronic Routing System | funding, reporting | Plan | https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/WISPER/ |
| WPT: Wisconsin Public Television Production Services | 3d, data visualization, graphics, media, video | Outreach | http://wpt.org/production_services/main |
| Writing Center | dissemination, support, training, writing | Plan, Publish Research Artifacts | http://www.writing.wisc.edu/ |
| Resource | Tags | Lifecycle_Stage | Link |