Content:
 

1. Prerequisites and uses of secondary analysis
2. Data for secondary analysis
3. Using old data to test new ideas
4. Technical means to add to the informational value of data
5. The potential of secondary analysis for teaching
6. Creating the data base for social science research
7. Notes

6. Creating the data base for social science research

It took about two decades to implement the idea of data archives and to develop an international network for social science data services. In the earlier years emphasis was on development of archival instruments and procedures. Nowadays several of the archives manage to concentrate more efforts on the development of their holdings. This results in more systematic compilations of topically centred study collections from national sources and the attempt to link those to collections provided by foreign archives.

Some of the data archives also have taken over responsibility in coordinating the data documentation and management of large international research projects. One of the major achievements of the social science community in recent years is the "General Social Surveys". These surveys are conducted to provide up to date data on various topics to the respective research community. In contrast to other surveys where the principal investigators keep their data until they have published the result, here the data is released to the research community as soon as the data files including proper documentation are ready for analysis. These General Social Surveys are planned as long-­term ongoing research projects, parts of the questions asked earlier will be repeated in intervals. Several nations are cooperating in this effort and exchanging their data already. From these efforts the lnternational Social Survey Programme (ISSP) emerged. By now nine countries are participating in this project. An identical set of questions is administered in all participating countries. Common core codebooks and data sets are made available via the Zentralarchiv in Cologne.