Data Management Plan
Prior to the collection of data, a data management plan should be in place. The data management plan should include who is responsible for each step of interaction with the data, where data will be stored at each stage, how the data quality will be checked throughout the process, and how long (and where) the data will be maintained once the assessment is concluded. The plan should be decided at the beginning of the assessment and documented with written agreements for full transparency about who will manage the data, own the data, and how the data will be shared.
Data Analysis Plans
Data analysis plans should be developed prior to data collection to ensure that there are no gaps or redundancies in data collection plans, and that the data collected fully addresses the research questions. These should include dummy tables and figures, and qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods examples. Authorship order for reports and publications should also be decided at this stage.