Researching human brain behavior is predictably complex and requires voluminous datasets for analysis. For Dr. Logan Trujillo, assistant professor of psychology, research for a summer 2017 article on the effects of electroencephalogram (EEG) reference choices required not only large datasets, but also a place to publish and share the data.
“I study human perception and cognition from basic and applied viewpoints,” Trujillo explained. This research is very data intensive and generates a lot of code for analysis. It’s difficult to share because the research requires tens, if not hundreds, of gigabytes of data.”
Not only did Trujillo need a place to publish research data for his article, he was also working on a grant application for the National Science Foundation which requires researchers to demonstrate how they will publicly share their research data.
Fortunately for Trujillo, Texas State University Libraries had recently launched a free, open-source research data repository called Texas State University Dataverse (Dataverse) that offered a solution to both needs. Dataverse is a platform for publishing and archiving research data sets created by faculty, staff and students. The research repository model was developed by Harvard University and the Texas Digital Library-hosted site was created by a consortium of Texas universities.
Liberal Arts College research coordinators told Trujillo about the new resource and he was pleased that Dataverse not only met the grant requirements for data sharing, but also increased the visibility of his work. He found the tool to be easy to use and was able to enter metadata discoverable by search engines such as Google and Google Scholar that will likely lead to increased citations. Trujillo recommends that users also upload text files that provide researchers with an outline of what was uploaded and how to utilize it.
“I think it’s a great tool. I believe in open sharing of scientific data,” Trujillo said. “It helps to further scientific research because everyone can check and verify results and build on the work of others.”
Trujillo’s paper and his data have received many views and his research will help clinicians better conduct and analyze electrophysiological complexities and brain cognition through EEG monitoring of brain activity. To learn more about the Texas State University Dataverse, visit the library’s dataverse web page.