Research Data

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typewriter with a chart and a questionnaire
Thu-Ha Nguyen

Research data management is part of the services offered by the WZB Research Information Unit. Research data are an essential component of empirical social and economic research and hence vitally important to much of the research performed at the WZB. This is also reflected in the WZB's Data Policy. Our goal is to share our research data-related expertise to make the work of the WZB researchers easier.

Researchers at the WZB benefit from different offers regarding research data management:

  • Support when setting up data management plans to create organisational help and to fulfill funding requirements.
  • Overview of research data from other institutions, i.e. data sources well-known and lesser known to researchers.
  • Aquisition of data not yet available at the WZB as well as contractual management of external data.
  • Support when setting up surveys, especially online surveys with the software LimeSurvey.

The unit also provides help to publish data which was created at the WZB. In the SowiDataNet project, the WZB collaborates with GESIS: Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (project management), the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), and the German National Library of Economics (ZBW) to build a data infrastructure for social and economic research. The project is funded by the Leibniz Association; after the project is completed, the new infrastructure will be managed by GESIS. Beginning in March 2017, WZB researchers will have access to SowiDataNet, allowing them to archive, document, and share research data. In SowiDataNet, research data can be described using standardized metadata. During the publication process, the data are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to facilitate citation, make them more visible, and easier to find as independent products of research.

The Research Information Unit provides in-house training for apprentices completing degrees as Specialists for Market and Social Research (Fachangestellte für Markt- und Sozialforschung, FAMS). The FAMS apprentices also complete training sections in some of the WZB’s research units. See here for more information.