Research Data
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What are "research data"?
Frequently, when we think about "data", we often imagine figures, measurements or statistics, the results of experiments. However research data are not just quantitative or numerical. They can be qualitative or non-numerical and take the form of texts, interviews, observations, drawings, maps or plans, photographs of objects, archaeological surveys, etc.
Research data can therefore be numerical but also descriptive, visual or tactile (Queensland University of Technology cited in ARDC, 2019). They can be stored in various formats (.png, .mpeg, .svg, .wma, .pdf, .txt, .xml, etc.) or support (digital or paper, for example). Data can be raw or processed. So there is a wide variety of research data!
In all cases, the data always constitute factual elements on which the results of the research are based. They are therefore recognised by the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings (OECD, 2007).
(Illustration : Bezjak S., et al., Open Science Training Handbook (1.0), Zenodo, 2018, CC0).