This project seeks to strengthen data protection competencies in the empirical social, behavioural and economic sciences and to raise awareness among researchers for data protection issues. It aims at informing researchers in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences, about data protection in Germany that is relevant to empirical research. The project is a cooperation between researchers from different scientific institutions in Germany under the umbrella of the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD). The SHARE Research Data Center (FDZ-SHARE), as accredited by the German Data Forum, takes part in this project.
The project was completed in February 2017 with the publication of the following handout on data protection: "RatSWD Output 5 - Handreichung Datenschutz". The handout provides a succinct overview of relevant aspects of data protection in relation to empirical social, behavioural and economic research projects and deals with the principles and requirements of data protection with a focus on primary and secondary data use. The first part outlines the principles of data protection, the legal framework in Germany, and fundamental concepts. The second part focuses on those aspects of data protection that are relevant before, during and after empirical research projects.
