It is not always necessary to collect new data for your research. More and more research data is made openly available for further research and analysis in archives or data depositories. Re-using existing datasets can save a lot of time and money. We, therefore, recommend you to check which datasets are already available within your research field first.
Sources for existing datasets
DUTCH DATA ARCHIVES:
| DANS – EASY
EASY is an electronic archiving system for research data that offers access to thousands of datasets in the humanities, social and behavioural sciences, geospatial sciences and oral history. The majority of the datasets are Open Access available. |
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ODISSEI
UT/BMS is a member organisation of ODISSEI.
ODISSEI is the National Research Infrastructure for Social Sciences with diverse components, including access to data, expertise and computing, and offers a wide range of support opportunities. The infrastructure is a collaborative consortium of 45 member organisations, including social sciences faculties in the Netherlands, CBS, public research agencies, and research institutes. Its explicit aim is to unite the social sciences and create a common, national infrastructure for research.
ODISSEI offers several facilities for UT researchers |
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CBS
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) provides relevant and independent figures on a wide range of societal issues. This requires a high degree of flexibility from CBS, something our staff work hard on to achieve every day. Whether the issue is climate change, sustainability, the housing challenge or poverty, we respond to the need for transparent and accessible information.
UT is an authorised institution to work with CBS microdata (until 4 March 2028)
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4TU Research Data
The depository of the 4TU Research Data hosts datasets originating from technical and scientific research in the Netherlands.
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| Dutch National Data Portal
The Data.Overheid.nl portal (available in Dutch) provides an overview of all available datasets provided by government organizations in the Netherlands. |
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CentERdata
A big part of the data collected by CentERdata is freely available for researchers. The CentERdata database contains CentERpanel data, LISS panel data, DHS data and SHARE data. Check out these pages for more information about the terms and conditions and to gain access to these interesting datasets.
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ICPSR
ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. Besides, ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community.
As a faculty, we have a membership.
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There are more data sources to discover data relevant for your research have a look at the following portals and/or data providers (under heading 'Data Sources'.
Please let us know if you have any additional Data Archives for your colleague BMS researchers, so we can add them to this overview.
Terms of use
Each data archive or depository has its own terms of use, but generally the most important aspects that should be taken into account when re-using an existing dataset are:
- The acquired dataset is for personal use only and may not be distributed further
- Always include an acknowledgement of sources (a bibliographic reference of the dataset)
- Inform the archive or depository of the new publications that resulted from the dataset