Project INF

By setting up and administering a virtual research environment, this project takes on key service functions in the domain of data and information infrastructure. It will devise and implement standards of documentation for the data generated, develop anonymization concepts for data archiving and provide advice on methodology. The project aims at constructing a virtual research environment composed of three elements:

• A conventional working platform, which provides necessary IT resources for the individual projects and for the Collaborative Research Center as a whole. This working platform offers effective support for research in the social sciences by bringing together various tools for daily work (e.g., storage and administration of documents and publications) and administration (e.g., project management, collaborative documentation and exchange of knowledge, appointment calendars, forum, blogs, etc.) in a single information infrastructure adapted to the specific needs of the projects and the working methods of the researchers.
• A research data platform, which constitutes an innovative aspect of the project. It combines elements of research data management with the further development of social science methodology. The platform provides services for the archiving and subsequent use of datasets and is responsible for the infrastructural and methodological coordination of the data documentation. The entire data lifecycle—from the conceptualization of the project to the analysis and archiving of data—is documented by implementing and applying the metadata standard DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) 3.x in all the projects participating.
• An interface module, which manages the external links to existing information resources (e.g., SOEP, the Federal Employment Agency, the Data Service Center for Business and Organizational Data at the University of Bielefeld) and other tools for exchanging data. For example, a smoothly working data exchange between heterogeneous information resources requires a variety of transformation functions to standardize terminologies (e.g., DDI elements) and data formats (e.g., output of diverse statistic programs). The interface module will also set up and administer the homepage of the SFB and ensure long-term external access to the data.

By extending the classic functions of compiling and servicing the information and data infrastructure, this project assumes developmental and advisory functions in the domain of IT infrastructure and empirical research methods. This implies that it makes its own contribution to the further development of research methods in the social sciences and to the construction of the infrastructure for data gathered using different methods (both qualitative and quantitative) and from different units (situations, persons, companies).