Announcement of the KonsortSWD Virtual Roundtable: "Discussion of standard socio-demographic variables to improve comparability across German survey studies".
Socio-demographic variables are rarely directly comparable across studies. This limits interoperability - one of the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) - and thus the reusability of the data. The KonsortSWD subproject "Facilitating the combination of research data through standardised and harmonised variables", based at GESIS in Mannheim, aims to develop resources to improve this situation for researchers.
Based on a review of the collection of socio-demographic characteristics in large German surveys and several ConsortSWD Roundtables 2021 and 2022, we have developed and partially validated proposals for standard variables for selected socio-demographic characteristics. These standard variables are intended, on the one hand, to usefully complement the recommendations of the Demographic Standards for standard items, and, on the other hand, to do justice to the heterogeneity of the survey instruments actually used in surveys.
For a presentation and discussion of our proposals, we invite you to the virtual KonsortSWD roundtable "Discussion of socio-demographic standard variables to improve comparability between German survey studies" on Thursday, 17.11.2022 from 13:00 to 16:00. Please register here by 10.11.2022 at the latest and at the same time vote on which characteristics should definitely be presented and discussed from your point of view.