KonsortSWD (Phase 2)

Measure TA3.M5 (Open, Metadata-Enriched, Non-Proprietary Data Format for Data Dissemination)

Project lead: Knut Wenzig
Collaborators: Xiaoyao Han, Tom Hartl

The principles of good scientific practice require that the steps of the research process, as well as the materials used or produced, be documented in a transparent and traceable manner and made accessible for reuse. Throughout the research data lifecycle, numerous documents are created to document the research process, such as descriptions of the study design, questionnaires, codebooks, descriptive summaries, and replication code for data analyses. Ideally, each of these documents should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

One approach to meeting these requirements is the use of metadata to organize the research process. At present, social scientists use a variety of software tools for data analysis, some of which are proprietary and handle metadata in different ways. In addition, some metadata are not accessible directly through the data file itself but are instead provided in PDF documents or on websites. The different data formats used by statistical software packages, which are only partially compatible with one another, represent an obstacle to replication studies. Proprietary data formats in particular pose a risk to the requirement of interoperability established by the FAIR principles.

The aim of the project is to promote open and FAIR-compliant research practices in the social and economic sciences. To this end, an open, non-proprietary data format enriched with additional information is being developed. The format is compatible with commonly used statistical software while at the same time providing standardized access to the associated metadata.

Website:
https://opendataformat.github.io/

KonsortSWD:
https://www.konsortswd.de/angebote/open-data-format/

Extensions and use cases:
R: https://git.soep.de/opendata/r-package-opendataformat
Stata: https://opendataformat.github.io/stata-package.html
Python: https://opendataformat.github.io/python-package-opendataformat

SOEP data in Open Data Format:
Working with SOEP Data in Open Data Format

Measure TA2.M2 (Creating Single Points of Access for Sensitive Data in RDCs)

Project lead: Jan Goebel
Collaborators: Neil Murray, Kenny Pedrique

To create the optimal conditions for empirical research, it is crucial that data access is easy as well as secure. Researchers are normally able to access anonymized microdata after signing a contract with the data provider, but in the case of detailed, weakly anonymized data, data can only be used on-site at guest researcher workstations, which often means spending large amounts of time and money. Improving access to sensitive data is an important criterion for maximizing research potential.

KonsortSWD Measure TA2.M2 aims to close this gap. It will establish a research data infrastructure network (RDCnet) connecting guest researcher workstations at the participating research data centers in a network of secure data access points. This will enable researchers to access sensitive data from any of the participating guest researcher workstations. By improving ease of access, the measure will increase the number of data users, while leaving control over the ultimate distribution of the datasets with the data providers to ensure adherence individual standards of data security.

For more information, please visit the consortium website. Previous publications of the measure are available on the multidisciplinary repository Zenodo.