Application process and guidelines
This page provides information on how to apply for access to data that are archived at the FDZ at IQB. Application guidelines, a sample project proposal and the application form are available by clicking on the links below. Please follow the guidelines in writing your project proposal and use the online application form.
On principle, you can request access to any of the data sets listed under "Studies" for the purpose of re- or secondary analysis. Your application will be checked for formal correctness by FDZ staff. This will normally take about two weeks. Please also see our 
Rules of Procedure (German version).
- Are the data to be used for purely non-commercial and scientific purposes?
- Is data privacy protection respected?
- Do the intended analyses run counter to contractual agreements with the owner of the data (e.g., the KMK, i.e., the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany)?
- Are the analyses apt to jeopardize ongoing research and publication projects?
If the formal criteria are met, each applicant will receive a data research contract and be asked to print two copies of it, sign and stamp them and return both copies to the FDZ at the IQB, which is a prerequisite for data access. In those exceptional cases where there is doubt as to whether all the criteria are met, the FDZ reserves the right to involve external reviewers, the producers of the data or the data owners in the evaluation of the proposed project, which is bound to delay the final approval by a period of about four weeks or more.
If a research project implies novel and hitherto unpublished comparisons across German Länder, the application will take longer to process because the project will have to be subjected to peer review. For further details please see the updated rules (German version) regarding novel state comparisons (20-09-2012 in the version of 09-09-2015) requiring a more detailed application (approx. 20 pages) for the peer-review process.
Data received from the FDZ must not be made available to third parties and have to be destroyed after completion of the analyses for which they were provided. Please note that any person who is to be the author or co-author of any publication derived wholly or in part from the data and/or materials supplied has to conclude his/her own data research contract with the FDZ. Therefore, please include any authors or co-authors as co-applicants in your application for data access. This does not apply to (co-)authors who complete their work without accessing the FDZ's data and materials.
For documentary purposes the applicant undertakes to submit to the FDZ two specimen copies of the print version and one specimen copy of the electronic version of every product derived from the data received.
Students (undergraduate or postgraduate without formal employment at their institution) are requested to indicate their home address and their supervisor's name and institutional affiliation with postal and email address.
As a rule, applications are two or three pages in length, not exceeding a maximum of ten pages.
Please use our on-line application form.