Data Management Award 2024 to the Creators of the Citizens' Opinion and Barometers for Swedish-speaking Finns Data Series
FSD has granted the 2024 Data Management Award to the Finnish Research Infrastructure for Public Opinion (FIRIPO), administered by the Social Science Research Institute at Åbo Akademi University, in recognition of its significant contribution to the development of survey panels focused on society and politics.
The award was presented at the Tietoarkisto-seminaari (Data Archive Seminar) in Tampere on 21 November 2024 and was accepted by Professor Kim Strandberg from Åbo Akademi.
FIRIPO, through its citizen-based research panel, enables reliable research in a context where survey fatigue and declining response rates challenge traditional survey methods. The panels allow for the timely and representative study of public opinion on current issues, involving thousands of citizen participants. In the spirit of openness, the scientific community is also invited to propose questions or surveys to be included in the research panel.
"This is a publicly funded service that must promote scientific openness. Our goal is full transparency in data collection and its subsequent use," emphasised Strandberg upon receiving the award.
Data management and the entire lifecycle of the data have been excellently addressed in the awarded data series from the outset. The data are well-organised and thoroughly documented.
"To ensure the reusability of the data, we pay special attention to data security and privacy. Panel members are informed during recruitment and always have the option to withdraw their consent. The stored data are protected and stored in such a way that, in the event of a data breach, no personal information would be exposed to third parties," Strandberg explained.
To date, six datasets in the FIRIPO Citizens' Opinion series and as many as 18 surveys targeted at the Swedish-speaking Finns (Barometern) have been archived. These datasets are available from FSD for research, study, and teaching purposes.
"The Citizen panel also opens Finland as a research area to Swedish researchers, as questions posed in the FIRIPO panel are translated into Finnish or Swedish as needed," Strandberg noted.
In addition to the Citizen and Barometern panels, FIRIPO includes the Politician panel, the Gen2 panel, and Decision making labs. Data from these are also archived at the FSD. The project also involves Tampere University and the University of Turku. FIRIPO is led by Professor Kimmo Grönlund from Åbo Akademi University.
The Data Management Award has been granted since 2014. It may be awarded to an individual, research group, or organisation that has demonstrated exemplary data management and consideration of the entire data lifecycle in the planning, collection, organisation, and archiving of research data. The award is not given at regular intervals. The award item highlights reuse and sustainability and is accompanied by a certificate of honour.