Data Management Toolkit @ UNH

Organizing your data ensures that you and others can easily access and understand your research files. Effective data organization is essential for finding, retrieving, sharing, and maintaining control over files to prevent loss or accidental disclosure.

This guide provides best practices for file naming, folder structure, and version control. You will also find resources for citation management and organizing data in spreadsheets and databases.

Effective file naming helps you understand and recall a file's contents at a glance. Following these practices will help you manage, access, and share your files. Here are some best practices:

• Use descriptive names with key attributes like:
  • Unique identifiers (grant number, project number, etc.)
  • Project, study, or experiment name
  • Date or date range
  • Version number
  • Data collection location
  • Experiment, observation, or method type
  • Instrument or equipment used
• Be consistent. Follow a consistent naming scheme, especially in the order of elements. Consistency in case (lowercase, UPPERCASE, or CamelCase) is also important.
• Choose names that are easy to recognize and make sense in the project context.
• Avoid spaces and special characters, stick to letters, numbers, underscores, or dashes.
• Use ISO 8601 date format YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD.
• Use leading zeros (e.g., 001 instead of 1) for proper sorting.
• Keep filenames under 50 characters to avoid issues with some computer systems.
• Common terms like "data" or "sample" or vague versioning terms  like "revision" or "final" should be avoided when possible. Use version numbers, dates, or other forms of version control for the latter case.
• Avoid relying on the directory structure to describe file contents - file names should clearly convey what’s inside.

More about file naming

A logical folder structure helps you and others easily find and work with your files. Aim for a consistent and logical folder structure that reflects how data is collected and accessed. Avoid saving all your research files in a single folder, which can lead to confusion. Instead, create a hierarchy of folders and subfolders to organize your files. Consider organizing by:

1. Object type: e.g., Interview Data, Survey Data.
2. Project/organizational structure: e.g., Location, Department, Project.
3. Combined structure: Often the best approach, organizing first by structure, then by object type

Here’s an example directory structure. Your project might differ (e.g., keeping code and results together or organizing documentation by experiment), but this provides a general idea of how to structure your folders logically.

Example file directory image created by Michael Lenard and licensed CC-BY

Some key tips for folder organization include:

• Planning your data organization from the start of a research project makes data access and management easier.
• Separate original and working files. Keep original data files in one folder and work on copies in another. This preserves the integrity of your original data.
• Save different versions of your working files, especially after significant changes.
• Store data dictionaries, lab or field notebooks, metadata, and procedures in a dedicated documentation folder.
• Place final data files used to support your research in a separate folder for easy access.
• Keep your folder structure consistent throughout the project and use a file naming convention
• Avoid over-nesting, don’t bury files too deeply in multiple folders.
• Avoid generic folder names like "data" without context; this can lead to confusion.Folder and subfolder names should reflect the content of the folder, not the names of researchers or staff.
• Document your file directory structure and create an inventory of your files in a README file.

Version control allows you to track the changes you or members of your team have made to code, data, or other research outputs. It allows you to retain drafts and details of changes and understand why changes were made, who made them, and what impact they had. Version control helps with collaborative editing, coordinating teams, and maintaining a history of progress.

Strategies include:

• Manual version control
  • Use your file naming convention to identify versions of your files. This can be done by incorporating a date in your file name (YYYMMDD) and a version number (e.g. v01, v02, etc.)
  • Document the file history in notes within the files or use a dedicated table to record version information.

• Tools for version control
  • UNH OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint have version control features including enabling track changes features and options for restoring earlier file versions.
  • There are software tools that can be used for version control. Git is a popular option for code used in GitHub, GitLab and BitBucket.

More about version control