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RIN Disciplinary Case Studies: understanding the information needs of life science researchers

Stuart MacdonaldResearcher

EDINA & Data LibraryUniversity of Edinburghstuart.macdonald@ed.ac.uk

IASSIST 2010, Cornell University, 2 June 2010

Advances in new ICT technologies, the data deluge, funding bodyrequirements have brought major changes for life science researchers

The eight-month RIN-funded project was carried out by a team of social scientists and information service specialists from ISSTI, DCC, and IS at the University of Edinburgh.

Principal Investigators: Professor Robin Williams (ISSTI) and Graham Pryor (DCC).

The aim was to identify ‘how information-related policy, strategy and practice might be improved to meet the needs of researchers’.

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Seven case studies were conducted across a diverse range of laboratories and research groups from botany to clinical neuroscience.

Deployed a range of quantitative methods and tools designed to ‘enhance understanding of how researchers locate, evaluate, organise, manage, transform and communicate information sources as an integrated part of the research process’.

5-day information diaries (x55) F-2-F interviews, (x24) Cognitive mapping (1 per case)Focus groups (1 per case)

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Diversity of Cases:• Enormous range of information use and exchange (formal/informal, internal/external) across the research groups

• Activities of individual members of research groups strongly influenced by their role, expertise and responsibility

• There is much talk of ‘big science’, and our initial research design presumed that we would be studying large-scale formal collaborations.

• We found most research groups in the life sciences operate on a relatively small scale.

Cognitive MapsAdapted from a lifecycle model developed by C. Humphrey (2006) different colours represent different types of activity within an information cycle.

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behaviour:

• Researchers discover and gain access to information mainly via direct access to web-based resources – little use of centralised services (e.g. library)

• Google – the ultimate enabler often delivering serendipitous contextual information

• Limited awareness of available services and resources but loyalty to those they like or trust

• Researchers used informal and trusted sources of advice from colleagues, rather than institutional services to help them identify information sources & resources

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• Researchers however were more ready to share methods and tools than experimental data

• Immaterial to researcher whether they need to use an information portal, commercial website, publisher’s web service or bibliographic database – orientation is primarily pragmatic!

• The use of Web 2.0 tools for scientific research purposes was far more limited than expected

• Centralised training not specific enough for kinds of refined utilities being used

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‘Impressionistic’ taxonomy of case study research data

Some form of taxonomic ordering is needed to facilitate a comparative analysis of the diversity of our cases

Our findings proposed a simple two-by-two matrix along two dimensions:

• Volume of data being handled• Complexity or heterogeneity of that data

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Credit: M. M. Alvarez, T. Shinbrot, F. J. Muzzio, Rutgers University, Center for Structured Organic Composites 

• Researchers have concerns about misuse of research data, ethical restraints and IPR

• Some disciplines lend themselves more than others to ‘openly sharing’

• Researchers retain a keen sense of ownership towards data which represents their ‘competitive advantage’ and ‘intellectual capital’

• Researchers felt that only they had the subject knowledge to curate their own data

Research data sharing: sharing of complex data is more problematic than sharing of research results via publications which remains the primary vehicle for dissemination and reward

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Researchers’ perceptions of future challenges and needs:

• Bioinformatics support (centralised, preferably local & easily accessible)

• Standardisation (data can be highly variable, different forms and formats, specificity of software)

• Data deluge and technical barriers (fear that there will be too much data to handle, process, even look at)

• Support for development of data curation should not be at the expense of funding for research

• Short term nature of funding may frustrate attempts to build & sustain data repositories

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Challenges and conclusions:• Institutional information services need to develop services that are seen as beneficial to researchers and can add value to the research process (tools, advice, subject-specific documentation and training, infrastructure)

• Development of research data curation skills and training to cater for diversity of research output and practice as viable career option

• Institutional information service need to develop intuitive tool-based support for practitioners to assist in the curation of their own data

• Research and funding councils, information service providers and institutions need to understand the practices of the research communities if policies and strategies are to be effective - A single approach to the future of life sciences or a one-size-fits-all information policy will not be productive or effective

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Thanking You!

Acknowledgements:

Dr. Wendy Marsden (ISSTI / Innogen)Ann Bruce (ISSTI / Innogen)

The full report ‘Patterns of information use and exchange: case studies of researchers in the life sciences’ is available at: http://www.rin.ac.uk/case-studies .

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