Name: Czech Social Science Data Archive
Institution: Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Coordinator: Mgr. Jindřich Krejčí, Ph.D.; jindrich.krejci@soc.cas.cz
Website
CSDA is a national resource centre for social science research, which acquires, processes and archives datasets from social research and makes these data publicly available for the purposes of performing secondary analysis in scientific research and training at universities. Sharing research data is a prerequisite for the development of contemporary research. The opportunity to analyse data from various research projects is the starting point for many social science studies and it makes the research internationally competitive. In academia, efficiency in sharing digital data is ensured by centralized national data archives; in the Czech Republic, CSDA fulfils this mission. CSDA has established, maintains and continually develops an extensive library of data collection from different data producers. These data are available to researchers and students via an on-line system allowing for the searching, browsing, analysing, visualizing and downloading of data. In CSDA, data are professionally processed, classified, documented and contextualized with other data and complementary materials. The archive is also a resource of research instruments verified in previous research, thereby creating essential background for the development of new surveys. The archival and information system ensures the long-term preservation and availability of data in compliance with international standards. CSDA is engaged in methodological research and produces studies of data resources and quality of research data. It also conducts analyses on data
harmonization and standardization of indicators and provides instruction in data management and methods of analysis. In addition, CSDA serves as a directory to other data resources and provides technical and organizational background for large-scale survey research programs, e.g. Czech participation in the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme). CSDA endorses EU and OECD principles of open access to research data and creates an environment for their implementation in Czech social science. CSDA is a Czech national node of the CESSDA ERIC (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) European research infrastructure and CESSDA service provider in the Czech Republic. CESSDA is an ESFRI Landmark. It interconnects national data archives and thereby creates an integrated European system of data services in social science. CESSDA is also a platform for international cooperation in the development of technology, standards, best practice and procedures in the domain of archiving and sharing of data.
