Scottish and German Perspectives on Access to Longitudinal Research Data in Education

Publication details

Authors:

Christian Aßmann, Michael Bergrab, Nathan Burns, Tunde Csoban, Saikat Ghosh, Louise Kelly, Ryan Kirkpatrick, Ryan Stewart, Friederike Schlücker, Doris Stingl

Publication Date:

21.07.2026

Number:

18/2026

DOI:

10.5281/zenodo.21369783

Proposal for Citation:

Aßmann, C., Bergrab, M., Burns, N., Csoban, T., Ghosh, S., Kelly, L., Kirkpatrick, R., Stewart, R., Schlücker, F., & Stingl, D. (2026). Scottish and German Perspectives on Access to Longitudinal Research Data in Education. KonsortSWD Working Paper 18/2026. Konsortium für die Sozial-, Verhaltens-, Bildungs- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (KonsortSWD – NFDI4Society). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20431657

Abstract
The research potential of available data hinges severely on the underlying survey mode and data collection design, as well as the institutional settings to access available data for empirical research and survey planning. We provide a review of different data resources available to researchers in the domain of educational research and of the institutional settings for data access in Scotland and Germany. Criteria to gauge the relative advantages of different designs and institutional settings for data access relate to longitudinal population coverage, linkability, time readiness, findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. The relative advantages are contextualized in (arche-)typical situations for survey planning and possible improvements are discussed.

Keywords: Research data access, Research data infrastructures, Longitudinal educational data