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In March 2020 considerable restrictions to public life emerged across Europe in order to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. They included the closing of schools and day-cares, restaurants and retail, as well as the transition from in-office work to home-office, changing the everyday life of almost the entire population within a few weeks. Thus, in addition to medical challenges, the Covid-19 pandemic also poses many social science questions, such as how the pandemic affects the economy, family life, or education. Therefore, as measures to combat Covid-19 emerged, also a number of social, behavioural and economic research projects developed to better understand the effects of the measures on society. To obtain thorough and quality assured insights into the social effects of the pandemic, it is particularly crucial to share these preliminary data and results in both a timely and accurate manner. At the same time, the rapid pace of the disease and the ad hoc mobilisation of resources to study the pandemic may also create conditions for inaccurate or low-quality data that is not useful for secondary use or data linkages. This would pose the danger of diminished scientific impact and social value of the collected data. In order to support the quality assurance of research data and a cultural shift towards Open Science across larger and smaller ad hoc social, behavioural, educational, and economic research projects on Covid-19, the German Data Forum (RatSWD) started the so-called Best-FDM[1] project. The project builds on a collection of German research initiatives which empirically examine the effect of the Covid19 pandemic on society. The studies were collected through two channels. First, since March 2020 we have actively been monitoring and collecting upcoming initiatives within the above-mentioned fields. Second, once the initiative became known in the community, several individual researchers began approaching the German Data Forum (RatSWD) to ask for inclusion of their projects’ findings and designs in the data base. This way, from March 2020 until December 2020, more than 200 independent empirical research projects could be brought together. The collected studies are systematically categorised in terms of discipline, methodology, research design, and current research phase. An initial analysis reveals that several larger projects provide very carefully designed and openly accessible documentations of their results, questionnaires, and research data management choices that encourage secondary use of their data or data linkages. However, the initial analysis also shows that the awareness of the importance of Open Science could be enhanced, particularly among researchers in small ad hoc projects. The Best-FDM project will identify which incentives are necessary to motivate more researchers to share their data and to make their meta data transparent and interoperable. In sum, based on the collected studies, our poster will present a metaanalysis identifying the gaps regarding Open Science in the social, behavioural, educational, and economic Covid-19 research. Moreover, we will illustrate measures aimed at enhancing the openness of these initiatives. [1] Bessere Ergebnisse durch Interoperabilität und standardisiertes Forschungsdatenmanagement: Vernetzung empirischer sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung in gesellschaftlichen Krisen (Best_FDM) &nbsp

With the spread of the corona virus, a number of studies and projects have emerged that empirically examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its control on society. They range from snapshots in surveys with self-selected samples, representative surveys, Corona diaries to inclusion in long-term studies. From the beginning, the RatSWD has collected studies and projects and made them available in a database. In the "BestFDM" project, these studies are analysed. The aim is to derive recommendations for quality-assured data collection and comprehensive research data management., Mit Verbreitung des Corona-Virus sind etliche Studien und Projekte entstanden, die die Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie und ihrer Bekämpfung auf die Gesellschaft empirisch erfassen. Die Spannbreite ist groß und reicht von Momentaufnahmen in Befragungen mit selbstselektierten Stichproben, repräsentativ angelegten Surveys, Corona-Tagebüchern bis hin zur Aufnahme in Langzeitstudien. Der RatSWD hat von Beginn an Studien und Projekte gesammelt und in einer Datenbank verfügbar gemacht. Im Vorhaben „BestFDM“ werden diese Studien und Projekte analysiert. Ziel ist es, Empfehlungen zu qualitätsgesicherter Datenerhebung und umfassendem Forschungsdatenmanagement abzuleiten., GESIS Blog

The social, behavioural, educational, and economic sciences offer indispensable perspectives and responses to the grand societal challenges the world is facing today. In addressing these challenges, the disciplines represented in KonsortSWD work with a range of different data types. These data are typically sensitive due to legal or ethical constraints and they are frequently generated for non-scientific purposes. KonsortSWD aims to support the research data management (RDM) needs of its communities, which increasingly collaborate in multi- and interdisciplinary research projects. The (co-)applicant institutions bring their long-standing experience in operating community-driven research data infrastructures to the NFDI. Our mission is to develop – strengthen, widen, deepen – a research data infrastructure for the study of human society. This effort is to be primarily user-driven and addresses the needs of our research communities. The core of KonsortSWD’s RDM strategy is to provide researchers and research data centres (RDCs) with the tools and services they need for managing and sharing (new) sensitive and non-sensitive data in compliance with the FAIR principles. This includes supporting sustainable RDM in all phases of the research data lifecycle and securing data accessibility with an awareness of ethical and legal aspects. KonsortSWD will increase efficiency in RDM processes by coordinating · data producers with technical expertise to simplify sustainable RDM throughout the data lifecycle, · a growing infrastructure of currently 34 accredited RDCs with 3,940 datasets, 46,000 data users, and a staff of 285 full time-equivalents (in 2018), · the German Data Forum (RatSWD), where data users and producers jointly facilitate access to research data, · a forum for ethical reflection to support researchers and their institutions and to discuss and disseminate standards for data-driven, high quality research on human subjects up to entire societies. KonsortSWD combines a multi-stakeholder approach with transparent governance: a Steering Committee is in charge of operations, an Advisory Board with elected community representatives provides strategic feedback, and a Consortial Conference helps to disseminate KonsortSWD’s services and to collect feedback. The Task Areas (TAs) focus on: (1) Community Participation. (2) Data Access, (3) Data Production, (4) Research (Data) Ethics, and (5) Technical Solutions.

Poster über die Aufgaben und Ziele von KonsortSWD - Konsortium für die Sozial-, Verhaltens-, Bildungs- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, präsentiert am HeFDI Plenary 2020.

Poster ��ber die Aufgaben und Ziele von KonsortSWD - Konsortium f��r die Sozial-, Verhaltens-, Bildungs- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, pr��sentiert am HeFDI Plenary 2020.