Advancing the data infrastructure
Working groups during the 5th appointment period (2014–2017)
The FDI Committee introduced a comprehensive set of measures to safeguard quality in research data centres (RDCs) in cooperation with the German Data Forum (RatSWD) in its 5th appointment period. These measures included adjusting standard procedures and improving their transparency, promoting harmonisation of cross-RDC processes and achieving joint strategic capacity. Moreover, a string of activities have contributed to increasing the national and international visibility of the research data infrastructure in the social, behavioural and economic sciences and to further consolidating its unique structure. Most RDCs now provide English online portals and data documentation to facilitate data access for international researchers. All in all, this streamlined process has resulted in numerous improvements for data users, data producers, and research funders.
Revision of the guidelines and criteria for accreditation
A joint working group comprising members of the FDI Committee and the RatSWD (WG Accreditation) evaluated and revised the accreditation criteria for RDCs. The revised accreditation criteria now provide for only few mandatory and a range of additional information criteria. The mandatory criteria are: RDCs must provide (1) a minimum of one access path, (2) sufficient data documentation, (3) a concept to ensure long-term data availability. Moreover, RDCs must be fully operational to receive accreditation. The revised guidelines will facilitate the accreditation procedure for new data centres and improve its transparency.
Chair:
- Tatjana Mika
German Pension Insurance
Members:
- Dr. Holger Alda
Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) - Stefan Bender
Deutsche Bundesbank, Vice Chair of German Data Forum - Heribert Engstler
German Centre of Gerontology (DZA) - Dr. Daniel Fuß
Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) - Dr. Sandra Gottschalk
Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) - Dr. Kerstin Schmidtke
Statistical Offices of the “Länder” - David Schiller
Federal Employment Agency/Institute for Employment Research (IAB), German Data Forum member - Dr. Felix Weiss
GESIS – German Microdata Lab
Revision of the annual reporting system
On the basis of these revised accreditation criteria, a working group of FDI and RatSWD (WG Reporting System) developed a new template to facilitate annual reporting and targeted monitoring. All accredited RDC participate in the reporting system by filling in an annual questionnaire. This also helps to ensure ongoing adherence to the accreditation criteria.
Chair:
- Dr. Jan Goebel
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW)
Members:
- Dr. Holger Alda
Federal Employment Agency/Institute for Employment Research (BIBB) - Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt
Universität Bamberg, German Data Forum member - Prof. Dr. Kai Maaz
German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), German Data Forum member - Holger Quellenberg
German Youth Institut - Dr. Sophie Rosenbohm
SFB 882 Research Data Center - Dr. Kerstin Schmidtke
Statistical Offices of the “Länder” - Dr. Felix Weiss
GESIS – German Microdata Lab
Publication of an annual activities report
The 2015 activities report (RatSWD Output 7) illustrates the full scientific and organisational spectrum of the RatSWD-accredited RDCs. It was published for the first time in 2016. Subsequent activities reports will help to make the structure and the broad range of RDC services more transparent – and facilitate continuous interdisciplinary and international exchange. The 2015 activities report was written by the pilot monitoring commission, which also revised and readjusted the procedure for evaluating such reports.
Evaluation and re-accreditation
The German Data Forum set up a monitoring and an evaluation commission to secure continuous quality assurance by systematically tracking RDC accreditation and annual reporting. Moreover, it set up a complaints office, which is based at the RatSWD business office, to deal with complaints by data users in a standardised and transparent way. This was the result of a recommendation of a third working group (WG Evaluation and Re-Accreditation) which developed proposals for suitable mechanisms and procedures to evaluate the quality of the research data infrastructure.
Chair:
- Tatjana Mika
German Pension Insurance
Members:
- Doris Bambey
German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) - Thomas K. Bauer
RWI Essen (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung), German Data Forum member - Prof. Dr. Manfred Ehling
Federal Statistical Office, German Data Forum member - Heribert Engstler
German Centre of Gerontology (DZA) - Dr. Daniel Fuß
Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) - Dr. Sandra Gottschalk
Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) - Heike Habla
Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) - Prof. PhD. Regina T. Riphahn
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Chair of German Data Forum - Dr. Pascal Siegers
GESIS – National Survey Programs
Harmonisation: web, documentation, output control
A number of day-to-day tasks pose similar challenges for many research data centres (RDCs). Increased harmonisation of standards, tasks and documentation as well as matching methodologies for output control can foster efficiency.
Chair:
- PD Dr. Erich Weichselgartner
Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID)
Members:
- Daniel Bela
Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) - Maurice Brandt
Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) - Rüdiger Dölle
Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) - Lea Eilers
RWI Essen (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) - Dr. Barbara Grave
Stifterverband - Prof. Dr. Monika Jungbauer-Gans
German Centre for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies (DZHW), German Data Forum member - Dr. Katharina E. Kinder-Kurlanda
GESIS (extern) - Heike Mittelmeier
ifo Institut - Dr. Anja Perry
GESIS – PIAAC - David Schiller
Federal Employment Agency/Institute for Employment Research (IAB), German Data Forum member
Metastructures: data access and RDC landscape
The FDI Committee took first steps to create a more coordinated infrastructure, whose common standards benefit both data producers and users. The working group Harmonisation and Metastructures identified harmonisation potentials across the data centres and subsequently issued recommendations.
Members:
- Stefan Bender
Deutsche Bundesbank, Vice Chair of German Data Forum - Maurice Brandt
Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) - Dr. Laura Castiglioni
pairfam - Hans-Josef Fischer
IT.NRW (Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen), German Data Forum member - Brigitte Haustein
GESIS - Marcel Hebing
Sozio-economc Panel Study - Sabine Ohsmann
German Pension Insurance, German Data Forum member - David Schiller
Federal Employment Agency/Institute for Employment Research (IAB), German Data Forum member - PD Dr. Erich Weichselgartner
Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID)
Task Force Research Data Management
Besides the issue of quality assurance in the research data centres, the FDI Committee also addresses practical issues of research data management. The FDI Committee and the RatSWD created a joint task force which developed comprehensive guidelines for creating research data management plans in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences. The guidelines are aimed at grant applicants and research funders. The working group also took first steps towards a harmonisation of data management plans. Existing national and international recommendations as well as the knowledge exchange among RatSWD-accredited RDCs formed the basis of these activities.
The handout on “Research Data Management in the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences” was published as the third issue of the RatSWD Output Series in June 2016 and was distributed to numerous stakeholders. The German Research Association (DFG) acknowledged the German Data Forum’s efforts with respect to handling research data by recommending the guidelines to grant applicants on its website.
Chair:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Liebig
Bielefeld University
Members:
- Dr. Laura Castiglioni
German Family Panel (pairfam) - Prof. Dr. Monika Jungbauer-Gans
German Centre for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies (DZHW), German Data Forum member - Dr. Poldi Kuhl
Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB) - Alexia Meyermann
German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) - Dr. Sebastian Netscher
GESIS - Dr. Sophie Rosenbohm
SFB 882 Research Data Center - Dr. Thomas Schmidt
Institute for the German Language - Prof. Dr. Jörg Strübing
Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, German Data Forum member - PD Dr. Erich Weichselgartner
Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID)
Task Force FDI Strategy
Based on the aforementioned results, the FDI Committee initiated processes to improve the future orientation of the research data infrastructure in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences. The goal of the Task Force FDI Strategy was to make the interdisciplinary research data infrastructure more compatible on an international level and to improve harmonisation by integrating data centres into a more federal and fine-tuned structure. The further development of standards within the research data infrastructure should benefit data producers as well as data users.
The aim is to reach a broader consensus about standards in the near future. Research data from RDCs should not only be findable and accessible on an international level, but interoperable across infrastructures. This will facilitate re-use of data as well as the full utilisation of their scientific potential. Other important issues of the next few years include the archiving of datasets and skill development and training of data users.