Data Access

How to access research data from the RDC?

RDC at ZPID provides the collected research data for scientific research and teaching free of charge. The steps to obtain and use research data from RDC at ZPID are simple.

1. Requirements

   Since the database provided by the RDC at ZPID also contain sensitive information, they may only be re-used for scientific research and teaching. Data sets can therefore only be obtained by persons working at a scientific institution. 

2. Select data

   In our database you can search for studies that might be interesting for your own research work. The documentation of the studies included is freely available. Likewise, the codebooks exclusive of specific item formulations can be viewed publicly. The data itself and the associated complete codebooks (including any item formulations) have to be ordered.

3. Order data with conclusion of a data user contract

   If you have found a dataset in our database that interests you, you can request access by clicking the "Order Dataset" button on the respective dataset page. For data at Sharing Level 1 ("Scientific Use"; see also the Sharing Level Concept by Gollwitzer et al., 2021), you will then be guided through our delivery assistant. After registering in the system (via ORCID or Leibniz Psychology Account), you will be led through a form that presents the conditions of the Scientific Use license under which data at this sharing level are provided, requests your consent to these usage terms, and checks whether the prerequisites for applying the license are met. Once the process is completed, you can download the data directly.

   For data published under the conditions of Sharing Level 2 ("restricted scientific use"), clicking the "Order Dataset" button will also redirect you to a form requesting your name, affiliation, contact details, and intended use. By clicking the "Generate Contract" button, you can create the contract as a PDF document. Download the contract, review once more the information provided in the form, sign it, and then send the signed contract by email to RDCservice.info@leibniz-psychology.org. After a brief formal review by our team, the researchers who provided the data will be asked to confirm their consent to make the data available for the purpose you specified. Once we receive their approval, you will receive an email containing a download link and the contract, now also signed by our side, for your records. This process may take several days, depending on the availability of the data-providing researchers and any additional requests for clarification regarding your intended use. However, in most cases, data provision is completed within one to three days.