A significant number of scientific projects pursuing large scale, complex investigations involve dispersed research teams, which conduct a large part or their work virtually. Virtual Research Environments (VREs), cyberinfrastructure that facilitates coordinated activities amongst dispersed scientists, thus provide a rich context to study organizational evolution. Due to the constantly evolving nature of technologies, it is important to understand how teams of scientists, system developers, and managers respond to critical incidents. Critical events are organizational situations that trigger strategic decision making to adjust structure or redirect processes in order to maintain balance or improve an already functioning system. This study examines two prominent VREs: The United States Virtual Astronomical Observatory (US-VAO) and the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) in order to understand how these environments evolve through critical events and strategic choices. Communication perspectives lend themselves well to a study of VRE development and evolution because of the central role occupied by communication technologies in both the functionality and management of VREs. Using the grounded theory approach, this study uses organizational reports to trace how critical events and their resulting strategic choices shape these organizations over time. The study also explores how disciplinary demands influence critical events.

The aim of the study was to compile a conceptual model of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) that indicates the relationship between Research Data Management (RDM) and VREs. The outcome of this study was that VREs are ideal platforms for the management of research data. In the first part of the study, a literature review was conducted by focusing on four themes: VREs and other concepts related to VREs; VRE components and tools; RDM; and the relationship between VREs and RDM. The first theme included a discussion of definitions of concepts, approaches to VREs, their development, aims, characteristics, similarities and differences of concepts, an overview of the e-Research approaches followed in this study, as well as an overview of concepts used in this study. The second theme consisted of an overview of developments of VREs in four countries (United Kingdom, USA, The Netherlands, and Germany), an indication of the differences and similarities of these programmes, and a discussion on the concept of research lifecycles, as well as VRE components. These components were then matched with possible tools, as well as to research lifecycle stages, which led to the development of a first conceptual VRE framework. The third theme included an overview of the definitions of the concepts ‘data’ and ‘research data’, as well as RDM and related concepts, an investigation of international developments with regards to RDM, an overview of the differences and similarities of approaches followed internationally, and a discussion of RDM developments in South Africa. This was followed by a discussion of the concept ‘research data lifecycles’, their various stages, corresponding processes and the roles various stakeholders can play in each stage. The fourth theme consisted of a discussion of the relationship between research lifecycles and research data lifecycles, a discussion on the role of RDM as a component within a VRE, the management of research data by means of a VRE, as well as the presentation of a possible conceptual model for the management of research data by means of a VRE. This literature review was conducted as a background and basis for this study. In the second part of the study, the research methodology was outlined. The chosen methodology entailed a non-empirical part consisting of a literature study, and an empirical part consisting of two case studies from a South African University. The two case studies were specifically chosen because each used different methods in conducting research. The one case study used natural science oriented data and laboratory/experimental methods, and the other, human orientated data and survey instruments. The proposed conceptual model derived from the literature study was assessed through these case studies and feedback received was used to modify and/or enhance the conceptual model. The contribution of this study lies primarily in the presentation of a conceptual VRE model with distinct component layers and generic components, which can be used as technological and collaborative frameworks for the successful management of research data. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / National Research Foundation / Information Science / DPhil / Unrestricted