r/research • u/fatima438 • 13h ago

Dataset

Guys I have a question do authors actually provide there datasets to students, who are doing independent research ?

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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7

u/Magdaki Professor 13h ago

One of the most valuable things that a professor has is their data. Usually it is challenging and costly to gather and/or develop it. So quite frequently no, they don't want the data to leave their research group.

5

u/Kanoncyn Graduate Student 13h ago

With that said, I think a lot of professors are always on the lookout for motivated students with the necessary skillset to help with their data--but that's usually in a supervisory capacity. You can't just ask a prof for their data and expect to get it. "Independent Research" is an unclear statement here.

2

u/Magdaki Professor 13h ago

Yes, with the key being a necessary skill set. I don't need warm bodies in chairs. I need people that can help with the work.

3

u/Nalena_Linova 13h ago

PhD students maybe. I can't imagine anyone in my field thinking that an undergraduate could make a meaningful contribution to data analysis.

1

u/Kanoncyn Graduate Student 13h ago

I’m at a uni where stats is pretty fundamental to the core of the undergrad experience. I’m not saying the average student can do it, but I’ve had 1-2 RAs that can hold their own with a dataset (and do it in a way I can replicate their steps to confirm the findings). 

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u/Nalena_Linova 13h ago

I can understand offering lab experience as part of the course, we do the same with wet lab experience, but its something that costs us time and effort.

In the same way that I'd never look to an undergrad to save me time in an experiment, I wouldn't expect an undergraduate could do well enough with data analysis that I couldn't have just done it myself. If I have to check their work, I'm not really saving any meaningful time or effort.

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u/Kanoncyn Graduate Student 13h ago

Oh don't you fret, I often have my RAs doing very boring and monotonous data collection since we work with human participants, and giving them a data sandbox and reviewing their data analysis is my way of giving back for the time they give.

1

u/Resident-Tackle-3662 13h ago

this is exactly it, the data is often the most valuable part of the whole project tbh

2

u/lipflip 13h ago

You can find my datasets in an open data repository.

For example  https://osf.io/gt9un/ for this article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004016252500335X.

it became so easy to share the data with the article but I provided my data at any reasonable request before that.