The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) announced the results of a survey on the management status of research data by 19 research institutes affiliated with the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences. The contents of this survey are contained in the research monograph 2020-30, Establishing An Institute-wide Research Data Management System, by Chung Yung-Chul, director of the Information and Statistical Research Department at KIHASA.

Researchers need to make plans before they start a research project for systematically managing data derived from the research, said Chung. We can raise research efficiency and data value by reusing the data, securing research integrity, and preventing research duplication; all these are possible if we actively open our research data in line with the paradigm of open science.

The summary of the research is as follows:

As a result of an investigation into the data management of 19 research institutes affiliated with the NRC, it was unveiled that not many institutes surveyed had a system for managing survey data, which are major research data.

• -Over the past 3 years, 37.7% of the respondents (research institutes surveyed) conducted surveys and 47.7% (9 institutes) had a survey data management system.

• -Those who opened the lists of survey data for internal sharing accounted for 73.7% (14 institutes), and those who opened them for external users accounted for 78.9% (15 institutes).

A survey of 182 who had headed a research project at the NRC affiliate research institutes unveiled that there was a lack of awareness among them about the need to manage and open research data.

• -Not many of the respondents were familiar with the concept of open science but a higher proportion of them expressed sympathy with the need to introduce such practice into their research fields. (33.3% of the respondents said they knew about open science, and 74.7% gave a positive response to the idea of introducing it to their research fields.)

• -Not many of the respondents (31%) said they knew about research data management plans, but most of them (71.3%) responded positively to the importance and need of introducing relevant policy.

• -Currently, it is mostly researchers who are in charge of managing and storing survey data after the end of the research (82.9% of the researches conducted), but 57.1% of the respondents said it should be handled by a special unit at research institutes.

• -The respondents were very positive about the need to open survey data in general, but were passive about opening survey data they had produced.

• -The reasons presented for why they were worried about opening data include research confidentiality, the risk of data misinterpretation and misuse, etc.

• -The reasons presented for why it is necessary to open research data include, “it helps other researchers,” “public research is a public asset,” “it increases the impact of the research and survey involved,” and “it raises the reputation and influence of the institutes involved.”

• -To the question of what is needed most for opening survey data, many respondents pointed out the need of a special unit or reorganization of an institute, and of raising awareness of survey data management.

Survey data to be managed include data from in-house and externally commissioned surveys, internal and external survey data, qualitative and quantitative data, and data before and after publication.

It is recommended that for the collection, storage, processing, and dissemination of survey data, there need to be a ‘survey data management team, and to review and deal with any possible issues and problems related to data management, there need to be a ‘survey data disclosure review committee.’

• -The major functions of the survey data management team may include transfer of survey data, review of data for transfer, survey data quality management, data processing for data disclosure, the management and operation of the survey data management infrastructure, measuring the performance of data management, and responding to inquiries regarding survey data.

• -The responsibilities of the survey data disclosure review committee may include reviewing the request of data disclosure, approving data disclosure, and reviewing any possible breach of research ethics regarding data disclosure.