Improving Data Services by the Creation of a Question Database

This paper will demonstrate and discuss how a question database will be of great value for both the social science research community but also for Data Archives. The question database will hold information on every question from the questionnaires deposited in the archive. The database will be searchable from the Web via a dedicated search interface. Having access to the full and original question wording will improve data services in several ways. The paper will present the new advantages and possibilities such as 1) Users will have an additional method for identifying more precisely relevant surveys, links to all the surveys using the given question, 2) the possibility of making comparative research of the surveys using a given question, 3) support in the construction of new questions and questionnaires-new research projects as the question wordings themselves reflect the time and circumstances in which they were designed-more open access and insight in the surveys and the data via the question database. The paper will discuss issues involved in designing, creating and maintaining a question database and the benefits it creates.