Inventory of Research Data Services at United States and Canadian Universities, 2023 (ICPSR 39114)

Version Date: Mar 11, 2025

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Principal Investigator(s):
Ruby MacDougall, Ithaka S+R; Dylan Ruediger, Ithaka S+R

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39114.v1

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Summary

The Inventory of Research Data Services at the U.S. and Canadian Universities study systematically gathered data on the research data services provided by a sample of universities in the United States and Canada. This sample included 40 Research 1 (R1) universities, 40 Research 2 (R2) universities, 40 Liberal Arts Colleges, and 8 institutional members of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Through a comprehensive examination of institutional websites, the study documented the types, locations, extent, and delivery methods of these services, as well as the availability of High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources and the existence of institutional repositories on each campus. Data collection was conducted using the Qualtrics platform.

Carried out from March 2023 to July 2023, this inventory formed part of a collaborative research initiative aimed at coordinating research data support services across campuses. This initiative is being led by Ithaka S+R in partnership with 29 university collaborators in the United States and Canada.

The findings of the inventory are publicly available in this report.

Citation

MacDougall, Ruby, and Ruediger, Dylan. Inventory of Research Data Services at United States and Canadian Universities, 2023. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-03-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39114.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2023-03 -- 2023-07

Date of Collection

2023-03 -- 2023-07
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Study Purpose

This study aims to assess the range of research data services currently available at a representative sample of universities in the U.S. and Canada. Research-intensive universities benefit greatly from efficient research data service infrastructure, yet the implementation of these services thus far has been ad hoc and difficult to navigate. This study is a follow-up inventory from a previous assessment in 2020, which focused on U.S. universities. This study is part of an overall effort by Ithaka S+R to track the development and expansion of university-based research data services as federal data management requirements evolve.

Study Design

The data come from a systematic search of institutional and departmental web pages published on university websites. Since the services are distinct and decentralized, the services are categorized by research function and topic. The sample consists of a random selection of 120 universities from the U.S. and 8 universities from Canada. The universities are categorized by the Carnegie classifications of R1, R2, and Liberal Arts. The data also include the availability of high-performance computing (HPC) resources and whether universities have an institutional repository system that accepts data sets for deposit.

Sample

The sample was derived from the departmental web pages of each institution's website. All information was collected using Qualtrics. The sample consists of 128 randomly selected universities, 120 from the United States and 8 from Canada.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Unit(s) of Observation

Institution

Data Source

Public webpages published on research university websites describing data services provided.

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Data service observations are categorized by the Carnegie classification (R1, R2, and Liberal Arts), as well as country of origin. Observations are also categorized into public and private universities. The remaining variables constitute counts of research data services per institution by type. The research data service variables are characterized by service mode, service type, and service provider. Service mode includes "Consulting," and "Training." Service type includes "General Research Data Management," "Statistics," "Geospatial," "Visualization," "Bioinformatics," "Social Science emphasis," "Digital Humanities emphasis," "Clinical Data," "Health Sciences," and "Other." Service providers include "Library," "IT Department," "Research Office," "Academic Departments," and "Medical School."

The second data set included in this study contains observation-level indicators of high-performance computing (HPC) availability and whether universities have institutional repository systems.

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Original Release Date

2025-03-11

Version History

2025-03-11 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • Created online analysis version with question text.

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Notes