The major scientific organizations have long been in favor of archiving research data: On the one hand, to ensure transparency and research quality; on the other hand, to make the often highly complex data available for further analysis. Data service centers have long been firmly established in the area of quantitative data. After a project has been completed, though, there has been little opportunity to archive qualitative data, such as biographical interviews or expert interviews, reliably and over the long term. Project leader at the SOCIUM, Professor Betina Hollstein, explains: “Qualitative, that is, text-based data is generally only partly standardized and presents a particular challenge in terms of data privacy and research ethics. By expanding QUALISERVICE into a national institution, we now have the opportunity to implement efficient and high-quality research data management for universities and research institutions throughout Germany.” She goes on to point out that, “Such a data service center goes a long way to developing a culture of data sharing and promoting scientific exchange.” In addition, it helps researchers fulfill the funding requirements of the DFG, which requires research data to be stored for at least ten years.
Cornerstones of QUALISERVICE
In addition to the establishment of a secure data center and long-term archive, the infrastructure project encompasses further development of a dedicated anonymization tool, the installation of a search portal, data delivery service and help desk, establishing the office, as well as quality assurance measures and exchange with the scientific community.
Implementing a nation-wide archive
Over the next three years, an interdisciplinary consortium will lay the foundations for establishing a permanent national archive. The IT aspects of the internal data management will be organized together with the data archive PANGEA – Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science – operated by MARUM and the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research. Further project partners are the State and University Library Bremen and the GESIS Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, Cologne, with which a reciprocal reference system is being set up for so-called mixed-methods data.
Longstanding expertise
The SOCIUM of the University of Bremen has extensive expertise and many years of experience in the processing of qualitative research data. Its roots go back to the Bremen Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 186 “Status Passages and the Life Course” (1989-2002). The several hundred interviews conducted at the CRC were first archived in the “Archive for Life Cycle Research”, in order to keep them available for future use. In 2011, the “Archive for Life Cycle Research” became QUALISERVICE, which was funded by the DFG in a first project phase between 2011 and 2014. Central components and workflows for the archive were subsequently developed in a follow-up project. During this time, QUALISERVICE was already making a name for itself in the scientific community and providing important impulses for the discussion surrounding the archiving and use of qualitative data. The importance of the SOCIUM in this area is also reflected in an international expert workshop on the subject of “Archiving and access to qualitative data”, which recently took place at the University of Bremen. It was organized by the SOCIUM (Professor Betina Hollstein) in collaboration with the German Data Forum.
More information under:
If you would like to know more about this topic, feel free to contact:
Prof. Dr. Betina Hollstein
SOCIUM Research Center for Inequality and Social Policy
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58512
Email: betina.hollsteinprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Susanne Kretzer
SOCIUM Research Center for Inequality and Social Policy
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58616
Email: skretzerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
