Created: 2026-02-10 08:46:21 - Touched: 2026-06-13 09:47:35 - Status: Stable

There are a few conceptions of the research data lifecycle.

Managing Research Data has some thoughts on this.

  1. Plan
  2. Create
  3. Process
  4. Analyze
  5. Disseminate
  6. Preserve
  7. Reuse

Or Corti et al (table 2.1):

Corti, L., Eynden, V. van den, Bishop, L., Woollard, M., Haaker, M., & Summers, S. (2020). Managing and sharing research data: A guide to good practice (2nd edition.). SAGE.

  1. Discovery and planning
  2. Data collection
  3. Data processing and analysis (merged?)
  4. Publishing and sharing
  5. Preserving data
  6. Reusing data

Or Thompson, E. by K., Hill, E., Carlisle-Johnston, E., Dennie, D., & Fortin, É. (Eds.). (2023). Research Data Management in the Canadian Context. Western University, Western Libraries. https://doi.org/10.5206/ZRUV7849

  1. Plan
  2. Collect
  3. Process
  4. Analyze
  5. Preserve
  6. Share (merged?)

None covers discarding data. Processing feels like it should be a separate step, taking the raw data and cleaning it up/joining it/etc to get it to a point where it can be analyzed. Preservation doesn't necessarily imply reuse. Sharing kind of does. Reuse is dependent on consent among other things.

DDI Alliance has a 5-step model that feels too simplistic to bother considering.

A lot of Data Management Plans are just the application of the data research lifecycle model to a particular research project.

The Digital Curation Centre has another model https://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/DCCLifecycle.pdf that is more complex, having lifecycle elements including community watch and participation, transformation, conceptualization and disposal. It's an interesting take.

Pages that link here:

Broken links on this page:

See all broken links