The Data Management Plan (DMP) is for describing how you are going to manage the research data that you collect and process in your thesis. It is as useful even if you use data someone else has collected.
Create the DMP before you start collecting data. Keep the DMP up-to-date and add more details into it along the way.
One of your most essential aims is to recognize and control the possible risks related to data protection. In the DMP you describe how you are going to process, e.g., personal data.
If your thesis is done as part of a research group, follow the project’s own instructions and write your DMP accordingly. Always follow your own university’s instructions and complement them with the employer’s requirements.
You can use the DMP for Students template provided on this page.
Guidance for supervisors
By following responsible data management, we aim to improve especially two things: the reliability, and repeatability of the research (or thesis), and sharing and reusing the existing data.
As a thesis supervisor, you should go over the DMP with the student, and review their plans for data management. You might find our guide useful when doing this. You can also use the University of Helsinki Research Data Management instructions.
If you need any assisting or guidance with the DMP, don’t hesitate to contact us at datasupport@helsinki.fi
Guidance for students
We recommend that you start writing the DMP already when you are planning your thesis, but no later than when you begin collecting or processing the data. It’s a good idea to start by making a table of your data.
In the DMP template, there is a concise description and few central questions in the beginning of every chapter to help you with planning. Use the example sentences for guidance instead of copying them. You can also provide as much information and clarifications as needed.
We strongly recommend using this Data Management Guide when writing the plan. The DMP template has a link to every module in the guide (the headers in parenthesis), so you should find the right section easily.
Describe in every chapter how you are planning to manage the data in practice. Be precise in your writing. What matters is that you understand what you write in your plan. Copying sentences from others is likely to result in a useless plan.
Once your DMP is ready, delete the instructional sentences and the unticked options from the multiple-choice lists. This makes your DMP precise and individualized — just like your thesis is.
