Improvement of Access to Data Sets from the Official Statistics



Statistical Office, processing user requests, is now funded completely from original in-house
sources. The Research Data Centre also receives funding from the BMBF within scientific
projects, for example for rendering panel data on economic statistics anonymous.4

The most important official statistics are now available in the Research Data Centres of
the German Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices of the Lander, as a joint
service. Access to the data, which is growing in volume, is possible in four forms, differing
with regard to the type of anonymity and form of data provided. Absolutely anonymous
public use files (PUFs) and factually anonymous scientific use files (SUFs) can be used
outside of the statistical offices (off-site use). Data rendered less anonymous and containing
less reduced information are made available at workplaces for guest researchers on the
premises. Moreover, there is also a possibility for researchers to work with formally
anonymous individual data using their own syntax via controlled remote data access (on-site
use). Information on data and forms of access is available at
www.forschungsdatenzentrum.de.

The most intensively used form of data is the SUFs. Approximately 710 standardised
SUFs have been provided for 328 different projects since mid-2004, when the Research Data
Centre of the German Federal Statistical Office was first evaluated. The most frequently used
dataset is the microcensus. Overall, however, demand for standardised SUFs is stagnating,
whereas demand for individual datasets at the workplaces for guest researchers and via
controlled remote data access is increasing. Controlled remote data access is now widely
popular as a form of access available to researchers abroad and to commercial users. 30
researchers have visited the research data centre since 2004, with controlled remote data
access used in 55 projects. 18 further projects are currently taking place using the two forms
of access.

The RDC Working Papers series was initiated to present the wide use of the official
microdata. To date, nearly thirty working papers have been published in this series, available
via the homepage. The Federal Statistical Office’s book series
Statistik und Wissenschaft also
includes various volumes of articles reflecting the dialogue between the research data centre
and the scientific community.

The Research Data Centre of the German Federal Statistical Office developed the series
CAMPUS-Files especially for teaching at university level. These files consist of absolutely
anonymous microdata, allowing students to learn methodological skills and analyse
sociological and economic issues. These data are available free of charge via the website of

4 For the problem of permanent establishment see Zwick (2006)



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