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KODAQS Data Quality Academy Certificate Program

Program Overview

The KODAQS Academy Data Quality Certificate Program is offered by the Competence Center for Data Quality in the Social Sciences (KODAQS), jointly managed by the School of Social Science at the University of Mannheim, the Social Data Science and AI Lab at the Ludwig Maximilian University, and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.

The program is a six-month online blended learning structured training, comprising approximately 120 hours of self-study and self-assessment learning. It aims to enable comprehensive skills to identify, foresee, diagnose, fix, and frame potential problems related to data management. The program relies on highly practical component, which include newly developed online courses for self-learning, regular online live events for interaction with lecturers and peers, as well as networking events with relevant data-producing institutions to learn about the actual practice of creating and working with high-quality data.

Participants will test their learnt data quality skills by participating in the KODAQS Academy DataFest, organized in collaboration with DataFest Germany. After successfully completing the program, participants receive a Social Sciences Data Quality Steward Certificate and join the KODAQS Academy Alumni, Researchers and Practitioners Network.

Key features of the KODAQS Academy Certificate Program

  • Expert instructors: Learn from leading academics in the field.
  • Hands-on learning: Practical sessions and hands-on projects to apply your knowledge.
  • Flexibility of learning: Blended-learning formats allow you to invest time at your own pace and when it suits your schedule best.
  • Networking opportunities: Join a new network of social data scientists: be a member of an interdisciplinary and internationally visible place for researchers of data quality in the social sciences.

Target group

  • Our program is designed to equip early-career researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds using social science data with innovative tools and comprehensive training to promote quality-assured data handling. Specifically, we encourage applicants who:
    • are currently enrolled as a doctoral student or recently started a postdoctoral research position, or
    • are currently working as a research staff for a research institution or a public entity that manages social science data (e.g. university, research institute, government agencies etc).

Curriculum

The Certificate Program’s curriculum is clustered under six consecutive modules:
  1. Terms, concepts & frameworks of data quality.
  2. Indicators & metrics of data quality.
  3. Remedies & corrections for identified quality problems.
  4. Tools & workflows for procurement, linking, processing and evaluation of data.
  5. Academy Safari
  6. DataFest

Download here (200 kB) a detailed description of the Program curriculum and schedule.

Academy Learning Bites

The KODAQS certificate program also provides access to our Academy Learning Bites, which are additional optional online learning resources for self-study. Compared to the core courses, these are shorter, structured learning contents focused on more specific topics and skills.

Data Focal Points

The KODAQS Academy’s Data Focal Points play a relevant role in the configuration of the Certificate Program, as the curriculum is designed under a logic of “tracks” to deepen the training on the management of a desired type of data. The data focal points of the KODAQS Academy consist of the following types of data:

  • Survey data: Data collected using quantitative interviews and corresponding standardized instruments, such as cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal surveys.
  • Digital behavioral data: Data left behind as traces in the use of digital systems, such as text, image, and video data in social media, networks from online, interactions, browsing history, or smartphone usage data.
  • Linked survey data with digital behavioral data or administrative data and geodata: Survey data that has been linked at the aggregate or individual level with digital traces or data from official statistics or geospatial data.

Mark your Calendars

  • The 2024-2025 Data Quality Certificate Program will run from November 21, 2024 to June 06, 2025.
  • Cohort 2025-2026 call for applications will open on July 01, 2025.
  • The 2025-2026 Program will run from September 2025 to March 2026.
  • Program Kick-off 2025-2026: will take place on September at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München  (on-site event).

Further information and questions about the program:

Get in touch

KODAQS

kodaqs[at]gesis•org