The goal of the CRC 1342 “Global Dynamics of Social Policy” is to analyze, understand and explain the spread of social policies since 1880 globally. For this, social scientists collect and process heterogenous data ranging from tabular data to interviews with policy makers, mainly macro-comparative statistical data and (historical) text data though. Despite an established RDM in quantitative survey research, data sharing practices in the social sciences – and comparative welfare state research in particular – are just evolving.

In the first funding phase, WeSIS – the Welfare State Information System – was designed in co-creation with and for the social scientists keeping the FAIR principles in mind. Achieving a mutual understanding among social and computer scientists led to a harmonization both in terms of the data itself, the documentation and storage and availability of the data that was and still is missing in welfare state research. Turning into a dedicated Infrastructure Project, the focus in the second phase shifts to extending WeSIS’ functionalities while implementing a “three pillar” strategy along the entire data life cycle that takes all projects on board – regardless of their fit to WeSIS. In this talk, we will focus on the challenges and solutions around building WeSIS and how this shaped the “three pillar” RDM strategy of the second phase.

WHEN AND WHERE?

The lunch-and-learn event will take place in hybrid form from 12-12:30 pm at MZH and via Zoom. There will be a 20-minute keynote presentation followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion. On site, we have planned an extra half hour (i.e. until 1pm) for personal exchange on the talk, general data science aspects or our services.