Efficient organization and preparation of tabular data

Whether biology, sociology, psychology or economics, whether questionnaire, measurement or instrument data: In science, research data are often processed in tabular form. However, numerous obstacles lurk in this process, and the wrong handling of tabular data can lead to problems in everyday research.

In the first part of our workshop, we will show you how to organize your tabular data effectively and what you should pay attention to when formatting it. In practical exercises, we will apply the basics we have learned to test data sets. Although the exercises will be conducted in Excel, the concepts can be easily transferred to other applications.

In the second part of the workshop, we will introduce you to the open source tool OpenRefine, which helps you prepare your research data for analysis. You will learn how to import your data into OpenRefine, find inconsistencies and fix them. Furthermore, we will show you how to save your cleaned data in suitable data formats. Finally, we will give you an insight into what other possibilities OpenRefine has in store to improve data quality. Also in this part of the workshop you will have the opportunity to try out what you have learned on a test data set.

The workshop is aimed at researchers at Thuringian universities and research institutions. Basic knowledge of working with tables is helpful. Previous knowledge in OpenRefine is not necessary.

To ensure seamless operation during the workshop, a short technical trial (5-10 minutes) is scheduled on October 24, 2023 within the offered time slots.