Understanding methodological and disciplinary differences in the data practices of academic researchers

In response to the rise of data driven research, academic libraries have expanded their research data services. Rather than adopt a blanket, “one-size fits” all model, these research data services should be provided with a detailed and nuanced understanding of their users. In this article, the authors examine how research data practices and future research needs vary by research methodology and academic discipline based on results of a locally conducted survey. With this information, academic libraries can offer targeted services to different user populations, which would be more efficient for the libraries and more useful to the researchers.