This guide is organized by three stages of the research data life cycle:
1. Finding Data
2. Analyzing and Visualizing Data
3. Communicating Data
These stages are common to data-driven research across disciplines, though the definition of data itself can vary by discipline. Here are some examples:
Discipline |
Examples of data |
physical sciences |
- Quantitative observations of natural phenomena
- Images, photos, or videos
|
life sciences |
- Quantitative observations of biochemical, molecular, or environmental phenomena
- Genetic sequencing information
- Images, photos or videos
|
social sciences |
- Geospatial coordinates, survey results, demographic information
- Aggregated social media content
- Digitized texts
|
humanities |
- Digitized texts
- Images or photos
- Archives of personal correspondence or historical texts
|
For more information about the stages in the research data life cycle, see the UCLA Library Data Literacy Core Competencies.