The SPP projects have the goal of researching and creating technical and methodological solutions for the future sustainability of panel surveys, enriching them with data from other sources, and thus paving the way for social science research on key societal challenges. By combining various disciplinary perspectives, foci, and approaches, the SPP aims to make substantial progress in expanding the scope and strength of panel studies in the social sciences in Germany. A distinctive feature of the SPP is its problem-centered approach, which brings together researchers from different fields to work jointly on specific research questions. By using prototypes of existing technologies and developing them further to serve the aims, constraints, and data protection needs of large-scale panel studies, we create synergies. By exploring novel methods and approaches, we establish new avenues of research and build bridges between previously isolated fields of research (e.g., computer science and survey methods). Panel studies will benefit from this exploration of promising methods and technologies that have the potential to reduce the burden of conducting surveys and to systematically enrich data spaces by offering new types and qualities of data.
As a whole, the SPP develops and introduces new data types and makes them accessible for research. It also develops corresponding methods for collecting and processing survey data and integrating the various data types.