Create a Dataset

GUIDE: overview of Create a Dataset content in the ODC Documentation

The information provided in this guide assumes that users understand the concept of the ODC Dataset and are familiar with the basic data organisation strategies discussed in the Organise Data topic guides. If you are unfamiliar with these topics, please review the following topics before working through the Prepare a Dataset guides:

The ODC Dataset

Tidy Data Format

Unique Subject Identifiers

Naming Variables

Goal: Publish or Store?

It's important to know what your goal is BEFORE you create a dataset:

• Are you planning to request a DOI and publish a dataset to the Public Space?

• Are you simply planning to store data files in a protected space and create a personal/lab data archive?

An ODC Dataset is not simply the uploaded data file, but the collection of files and supporting information — the Subject Data File, Data Dictionary File, Narrative Summary & Metadata, and any Supplementary Files collectively form the complete ODC Dataset

Knowing the end goal makes dataset preparation more efficient, because uploading a Subject Data File is only the first step towards creating a complete ODC Dataset.

• Datasets submitted for publication must meet the ODC Publishing Standard

• Datasets created solely for the purpose of storing/archiving data in a Personal or Lab Space must meet the Minimum Upload Specifications for the Subject Data File (i.e., they do not need to be complete)

  • We STRONGLY RECOMMEND adding a Data Dictionary File, Narrative Summary, and Metadata to every dataset to help future you understand your data better! It also makes publishing stored/archived data easier if you change your mind at a later date

These guides outline the process of creating a dataset and preparing data for publication or storage/archive, and provide handy links to resources in the ODC Documentation that will help you succeed — and reduce the amount of time it takes to get a DOI!

GUIDE: Prepare to Publish a Dataset

GUIDE: Prepare to Store/Archive Data

Tips for Getting Started

• Ensure you have a Full Access Account - data uploading is restricted to Full Access Users

• Make sure you have all of the necessary information required to create a complete ODC Dataset:

  • Subject data (experimental data)

  • Understanding of your experimental data and variables

    • i.e., what was collected, how was it collected, when was it collected, and what does it represent or measure?

  • Knowledge of the experimental design

    • i.e., purpose, experimental data collected, timeline

• Confirm your data is stored in an ODC compatible format - a spreadsheet organised in Tidy Format that can be saved as a .csv file (e.g., excel file). The ODC accepts data organised in wide, semi-long, or long format; use the organisation strategy that is most useful for how you will analyse the data (e.g., semi-long or long for datasets with lots of repeated measures data)

• Stick to the same formatting and conventions - always keep an eye on the details! Be consistent in your use of capitalisation, underscores, spelling, abbreviations, etc.

• Don't reinvent the wheel - this is the time to reuse past work (yours AND others)! Avoid creating new variable names/titles/definitions for every dataset and data dictionary by using pre-existing variable names/titles/descriptions already established as Common Data Elements (CDEs), Community Data Elements (CoDEs) (or published in related published datasets)

• Familiarise yourself with the ODC Quality Control App - while not a requirement, you can upload your files into our quality control app at any time to do a check for errors in your file structures or variable names. Information on how to access and use this tool can be found here:

ODC QCTool app