Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Data Under Construction: Data Profiling For A Water Quality Lab, Jake R. Carlson, Marianne S. Bracke

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This case study describes an investigation into the data management and sharing practices within an interdisciplinary research lab. The Purdue Water Quality Field Station (WQFS) consists of researchers and graduate students generating data on a range of topics including: water quality, water flow, chemical composition of water, soil composition, soil moisture, and plant biomass. Many of these data are of interest beyond the lab, to other researchers, policy makers, and companies. Most of the data are gathered, processed and analyzed by graduate students from several different departments. The data gathered by one graduate student may be useful to others, but …