The Research Data Center: Making National Educational Panel Study Data Available for Research

The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) aims to promote longitudinal analyses in educational research by providing a data infrastructure with the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) at its core. The survey, test, and context information collected so far across the six NEPS starting cohorts already offers a unique empirical basis to the scientific community in Germany and abroad. In order to exploit the enormous research potential of NEPS, extensive data preparation and documentation, flexible modes of data access, and proper assistance in handling the complex data are required. A crucial aspect here is user friendliness, with data security and data protection playing equally important roles. The LIfBi Research Data Center has developed several work processes and tools to meet the respective requirements and to enable both broad and secure usage of NEPS data.