Access to research data

Improving access to high-quality data for science is an overarching goal of the RatSWD and the KonsortSWD

The German Data Forum’s (RatSWD) overarching goal is to improve access to high-quality research data. To this end, the RatSWD mediates between the interests of researchers and producers of data and is responsible for the nationwide coordination of the strategic development of the German research data landscape in the social, behavioural and economic sciences.

Additionally, the RatSWD plays a key role in the initiation and establishment of the standards for collection, storage, provision, and quality assurance of research data. Through combined technical and organizational solution models, researchers are offered user-friendly, quality-assured data access in the provided Research Data Centres (FDZ).

Although the RatSWD has made great progress in improving access to research data, many relevant information sources still lie dormant and remain inaccessible for researchers. One key task of the RatSWD is to expand access to institutional information and datasets, as well as the further development of existing data access. It lays particular focus on subject areas that are relevant for both science and politics.

Currently, the focus is on health data, education data and corporate data, as well as questions about big data and technical data access, especially remote access. The RatSWD also deals with migration data.

In previous appointment periods, the German Data Forum also dealt intensively with geodata and crime statistics.

Health data

Statements

Stellungnahme des RatSWD zum Referentenentwurf des Bundesministerium für Gesundheit für ein Gesetz zur verbesserten Nutzung von Gesundheitsdaten (Gesundheitsdatennutzung – GNDG) [German] (14.08.2023)
Mitzeichnung des Positionspapiers des Deutschen Netzwerks für Versorgungsforschung [German] (28.03.2023)

Press releases

Stärkung innovativer Gesundheitsforschung erreicht: RatSWD begrüßt Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz [German] (29.11.19)
Gesundheitsdaten schützen und nutzen: Zugang für unabhängige Forschung in FDZ [German] (05.11.19)

Exchange with stakeholders

Exchange with the working group on health care data at the TMF – Technology and Methods Platform for Networked Medical Research (ongoing, e.g. participation in the 1st meeting of the working group on health care data in 2019).
Exchange with the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) on access to healthcare data in the context of the 40th meeting of the RatSWD (Dec 2015) and the 2nd meeting of the FDI Committee (April 2019).

Events – 9|KSWD

Plenary lecture I
How flexible data collection (could have) helped in the COVID-19, migration, financial, and environmental crises
Rory Fitzgerald, Director of the European Social Survey ERIC
Session D
Open Up Data Reuse: Wie kann eine neue Forschungsdaten Governance aussehen?

Note: older publications and events on this topic can be found in the archive

Education data

Dialogue with stakeholders

Advising policy-makers on data access and further development of education data (ongoing)

RatSWD Working Group

Education data (2014–2017)

Events

7^th Conference for Social and Economic Data
Forum D – Secondary Analytical Research in Education Research
08-09 February 2017, Berlin

Corporate data

Forschungsdatengesetz: Was zentral ist [German] (20.09.2023)

Migration data

Publications

Press releases:

Interconnected research in times of crisis (21 March 2023)
RatSWD launches collection of studies on the social impacts of the Ukraine war (26 July 2022)
Additional (geospatial) data for Migration, Health, and Finance-Market Research (03 June 2020)

Events

7^th Conference for Social and Economic Data
Keynote: Political Perspectives for data access – challenge migration and integration
08-09 February 2017, Berlin
7^th Conference for Social and Economic Data
Forum B – New data for migration and integration research: data infrastructure and research potential
08-09 February 2017, Berlin

Big data and unstructured data

Publications

Collection and use of unstructured data in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences [German]
RatSWD (2023). RatSWD Output Series, 7^th appointment period nr. 2
Big data in social, behavioural, and economic sciences: data access and research data management
RatSWD (2020). RatSWD Output Series, 6^th appointment period nr. 4

RatSWD Working Groups

Challenges in the scientific collection and use of unstructured data (2020–2023)
Access to big data (2017–2020)
Relevance of Big Data for Scientific Research (2014–2017)

Technical data access especially Remote Access

Publications

Remote Acess to data from official statistics agencies and social security agencies
RatSWD (2019). RatSWD Output Series, 6^th appointment period nr. 5

Press releases

Make research with data from official statistics agencies and social security agencies more user-friendly! (20 November 2019)

RatSWD Working Groups

Remote access to data from official statistics agencies (2017–2020)
Common guidelines in research data centres (2017–2020)
Improving access to existing data at research data centres (2017–2020)
Decentral archiving structure at research data centres (2017–2020)
Skills development in research data centres (2017–2020)

Events

8^th Conference on Social and Economic Data
Session I – Remote access to official microdata – European insights
02-03 March 2020, Berlin

Previous thematic focuses Data access

Geodata (2010–2012)

Publications

Geocoding data [German]
RatSWD Working Group on geocoding data (2012).
Final report of the Working Group
Geocoding data. On the final report of the RatSWD working group from the perspective of the Federal Statistical Office [German]
Dr. Schnorr-Bäcker, Susanne (2012). Extract from the publication “WISTA – Wirtschaft und Statistik“

RatSWD Working Papers