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Best fit questions

When deciding the best fit for you with respect to how and when you will start creating your data package, you should consider three key questions:

Next steps

Move through the "best fit" questions below. Select and record the answer option to each question that best fits you and your study.

Based upon your study's answer selections, detailed guidance on how and when to create and complete your data package will be provided.

The questions

Study Stage

How far along are you in your study?


How far along you are in your study when you start to think about data sharing will affect how you document your data. For example, if you are near the beginning of your study, you may be able to create your data package and set up documentation processes such that you document as you move through your study. This will lead to more complete documentation and ease the process of data sharing in the future, as opposed to completing all documentation at the end of your study. If you are nearer the end of your study, we recommend you take a narrower, more goal-oriented approach to documentation to minimize data sharing burden on your study group, while maximizing value to potential secondary data users and collaborators.

There are two options available for study stage. These study stage options are greatly simplified. For now, select the study stage that most closely fits with the stage you are at in your study.

Value options

  • Early
  • Late

Data-sharing Orientation

What is your data-sharing goal?


Determining what your goals are for data sharing will help guide you in determining what you will include in your future data package and how you will annotate the data and non-data supporting files/resources in your data package.

People will have different goals in sharing data and non-data supporting files/resources from their study. These goals, or 'orientations' may be dictated by a number of factors such as the nature of the data, study staff resources and time constraints, and investigator preference.

There are two main data sharing "orientations." These data sharing goals or "orientations" are not mutually exclusive. You may choose both Results-support and Dataset-sharing as goals for your study's data sharing goal. See more about each data sharing orientation below, and select the data-sharing orientation(s) that most closely fit(s) with your study group's data sharing goals.

Value options

Data-sharing Resources

Do you have low or no resources to devote to data sharing efforts?


While it is sometimes the case that study groups don't explicitly budget and plan resources for data sharing efforts, many study groups have enough resources overall that they find they can still set some staff time and effort aside for data sharing efforts that will benefit potential secondary data users, the entire research community, and the originating study group.

However in some cases, a study group may find themselves with a particularly low level of resources available to devote to data sharing efforts at the time they begin to consider fulfilling data sharing requirements attached to their study. They may for example have started out with a pretty tight study budget, or have already spent down most or all of the study budget, or have staff turnover that makes it difficult to spare person-time to the effort.

Determining whether your study group may be in a more common position of having a standard level of resources available for data-sharing efforts, or whether your study group may be in the less common position of having a very low level of resources available will help guide you in determining how you will annotate the data and non-data supporting files/resources in your data package.

There are two options available for data-sharing resources. These data-sharing resources options are greatly simplified. For now, select the data-sharing resources option that most closely fits with your study group's level of available data-sharing resources.

Value options

  • Standard
  • Low