Research data management at a public university in Malawi: the role of “three hands”

Abstract

PurposeConsidering that research data is increasingly hailed as an important raw material for current and future science discoveries, many research stakeholders have joined forces to create mechanisms for preserving it. However, regardless of generating rich research data, Africa lags behind in research data management thereby potentially losing most of this valuable data. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the research data management practices at a Malawian public university with the aim to recommend appropriate data management strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe study is inspired by the pragmatic school of thought thereby adopting quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire from 150 researchers and 25 librarians while qualitative data was collected by conducting an interview with the Director of Research.FindingsResearchers are actively involved in research activities thereby generating large quantities of research data. Although researchers are willing to share their data, only a handful follow through. Data preservation is poor because the university uses high risk data storage facilities, namely personal computers, flash disks, emails and external hard drives. Researchers and librarians lacked core research data-management competencies because of the lack of formal and information training opportunities. Challenges that frustrate research data-management efforts are many but the key ones include absence of research data management policies, lack of incentives, lack of skills and unavailability of data infrastructure.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings are based on one out of four public universities in the country; hence, the findings may not adequately address the status of research data management practices in the other universities.Practical implicationsConsidering that the university under study and its counterparts in Malawi and Africa in general operate somewhat in a similar economic and technological environment, these findings could be used as a reference point for other universities intending to introduce research data management initiatives.Originality/valueWith seemingly limited studies about research data management in Africa and particularly in Malawi, the study sets the tone for research data management debates and initiatives in the country and other African countries.

Research data management systems and the organization of universities and research institutes: A systematic literature review

“…Besides policies and culture, the study sample considered infrastructure as important pillar for RDM (Chawinga and Zinn, 2020a; Cruz et al, 2019; Krahe et al, 2020). The studies named various tools like long-term storage, communication tools or software solutions as infrastructure for RDM and underlined the necessity to consider costs for investments and running expenses (e.g.…”

Development strategies as catalysts for provision of the RDM services in the South African higher education institutions

“…Thematic data analysis is predominantly a fundamental analysis for qualitative research studies. The choice of qualitative thematic data analysis was informed by related studies (Avuglah 2016;Ng'eno 2018;Chawinga 2019). In the current study, narrations from interviews were organised, sorted, arranged and transcribed.…”

“…This suggestion correlates with the submission by Chiware and Mathe (2016) that Cape Peninsula University of Technology libraries had to run a pilot project with some research groups before fully setting up the infrastructure for RDM support. Several studies (Lötter 2014;Cox & Pinfield 2014;Shearer 2015;Avuglah 2016;Chiware & Mathe 2016;Nhendodzashe & Pasipamire 2017;Cox et al, 2017;Chigwada, Chiparausha & Kasiroori 2017;Ng'eno 2018;Cox et al 2019, Chawinga 2019; Avuglah & Underwood 2019; Anduvare 2019) note the paucity of infrastructure, due to a lack of funding, as one of the biggest challenges affecting RDM services in most universities. Funding has been seen to be problematic in both developing and developed nations of the world.…”

“…Proper infrastructure is a requirement for RDM services. However, most organisations are marked with improper infrastructure due to a lack of funding and support from parent organisations and external bodies (Lötter 2014;Cox & Pinfield 2014;Shearer 2015;Avuglah 2016;Chiware & Mathe 2015;Nhendodzashe & Pasipamire 2017;Morgan, Duffield & Hall 2017;Gunjal & Gaitanou 2017;Cox et al 2017;Chigwada, Chiparausha & Kasiroori 2017;Yoon & Schultz 2017;Ng'eno 2018;Cox et al 2019;Chawinga 2019;Avuglah & Underwood 2019;Anduvare 2019). Normally, organisations invest highly in infrastructure for service provision to their users.…”

Research Data Preservation Practices of Library and Information Science Faculties

“…The faculties give some suggestions: storing the data in multiple locations, regular backup using cloud storage, and proper handling of external storage. In 2020, Chawinga & Zinn 28 studied over RDM at one out of 4 public universities located in Malawi. The research found that researchers are actively participating in research and generating very much data.…”