Abstract
The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) aims to promote longitudinal analyses in educational research by providing a data infrastructure with the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) at its core. The survey, test, and context information collected so far across the six NEPS starting cohorts already offers a unique empirical basis to the scientific community in Germany and abroad. In order to exploit the enormous research potential of NEPS, extensive data preparation and documentation, flexible modes of data access, and proper assistance in handling the complex data are required. A crucial aspect here is user friendliness, with data security and data protection playing equally important roles. The LIfBi Research Data Center has developed several work processes and tools to meet the respective requirements and to enable both broad and secure usage of NEPS data.
Zusammenfassung
Das Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe (LIfBi) verfolgt die Förderung der bildungswissenschaftlichen Längsschnittforschung durch Bereitstellung einer Infrastruktur, in deren Zentrum das Nationale Bildungspanel (NEPS) steht. Die bislang im Panelverlauf der sechs NEPS-Startkohorten erhobenen Befragungs-, Test- und Kontextdaten bieten der wissenschaftlichen Gemeinschaft im In- und Ausland bereits heute eine einzigartige empirische Grundlage für die Bearbeitung zahlreicher Fragestellungen. Zur Ausschöpfung des Analysepotenzials bedarf es zunächst einer umfänglichen Aufbereitung und Dokumentation der Daten, der Gewährleistung flexibler Zugriffsmöglichkeiten auf die Daten und der Unterstützung von Forschenden im Umgang mit den Daten. Maßgeblich hierfür ist das Kriterium der Nutzerfreundlichkeit, wobei der Datensicherheit und dem Datenschutz eine nicht weniger bedeutsame Rolle zukommt. Um den jeweiligen Anforderungen gerecht zu werden und eine sowohl breite als auch sichere Nutzung der NEPS-Daten zu ermöglichen, hat das Forschungsdatenzentrum des LIfBi verschiedene Arbeitsprozesse und Werkzeuge entwickelt.
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Notes
- 1.
Whereas remote access solutions such as RemoteNEPS allow users to see the research data and to browse them, remote execution solutions typically do not. Remote execution works via queries and result files. This means that syntax files are sent by the researcher to the data-retaining institution, and the analysis is then initiated there on the data server. After necessary data protection controls, the output is returned to the researcher.
- 2.
It should be noted that the test booklets for the NEPS competence measurements are not accessible within the scope of the data documentation. This is mainly to protect the test instruments for further use in the panel. Inspection is possible, but only upon request and subject to conditions.
- 3.
Given the complexity of NEPS data and the time-consuming processes of establishing efficient data editing workflows, the 18-month criterion turned out to be overambitious during the first years.
- 4.
By default, all released NEPS Scientific Use Files are registered at da|ra, the German registration agency for social and economic data, and thereby indexed with a DOI code (Wenzig 2012).
- 5.
A sorted list of all NEPS-based projects is available on the NEPS website (https://www.neps-data.de).
- 6.
Please refer to the SPP website for further information (https://spp1646.neps-data.de).
- 7.
The data package is hosted at the IAB (http://fdz.iab.de/en/FDZ_Individual_Data/NEPS-SC6-ADIAB.aspx).
- 8.
Details are provided on the website of the alliance (https://www.forschungsdaten-bildung.de).
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Fuß, D., Wenzig, K. (2019). The Research Data Center: Making National Educational Panel Study Data Available for Research. In: Blossfeld, HP., Roßbach, HG. (eds) Education as a Lifelong Process. Edition ZfE, vol 3. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-23162-0_19
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