Linked Open Research Data for Social Science. A concept registry for granular data documentation

<p>Reusing research data is an integral part of research practice in the social and economic sciences. To find relevant data, researchers need adequate search facilities. However, a comprehensive, thematic search for research data is made more difficult by inconsistent or missing semantic indexing of data at the level of social science concepts (e.g., representing the theory language). Either data are not documented at a granular level, or primary investigators use their ad-hoc terminology to describe their data. From the users' perspective, the lack of theory language in data documentation impedes effective data searches and thus significantly limits the research potential of existing data collections. </p><p>Because there is currently no semantic model for indexing the semantic content of data in the social sciences, developing a concept registry for measurement-level documentation of research data will improve the data's findability and interoperability. This will also support research infrastructures to harmonize their indexing practices.</p><p>We present results from a pilot study testing the core components of a social science concept registry. First, we developed a data model for the Concept Registry using United Modeling Language (UML). All links between are created and managed in the form of so-called RDF triples. Second, we developed an annotation application for indexing specific questions/variables with social science concepts. The two SKOS-compliant thesauri, "Thesaurus Social Sciences" (TheSoz) and "Standard Thesaurus Economics" (STW) are integrated into the annotation application that could be extended to other resources like ELSST.</p><p>Third, we illustrate the empirical application of the concept registry with examples from three large-scale survey programmes (German Socio-Economic Panel, German General Social Survey, National Academics Panel Study). The initial focus is on variables and questions with overlapping content in the three survey programmes, as they form a sound basis for cross-linking with concepts.</p&gt