Quality of Government (QoG)Institute s Databases
There are today a vast amount of different data sources available for social science research. However, such data sources are only relevant to the extent that they are comparable and incorporated into a user friendly and accessible infrastructure. The collection, harmonization and processing of large quantities of data into analytically relevant categories is thus extremely valuable for the relevance and hence usability of such data. The uniqueness of the five QoG databases, stems from the fact that they contain more than 2500 carefully selected and processed variables, related to the quality of government and corruption for 211 countries from 1946 to today from 100 different data sources. Any database, no matter how big and widely used, will quickly become useless if it is not continuously maintained, however. The purpose with this application is therefore to a) secure maintenance and updating of the QoG databases for the next four years and b) to improve the databases with new search functions, services and data sources. As there has been an increasing interest inthe subnational levels, which are highly usable when it comes to test new hypotheses, it is the aim of the Institute to build another QoG database with regions as the analytical unit. Another goal is to build up a meta-database, containing information about other QoG-relevant databases.
Final report
Final report 2022
The Quality of Government Institute’s Databases (IN160227:1).
We are very delighted that Riksbankens Jubileumsfond decided to fund our research application. The project is now finalized and the financial support has made it possible for us to maintain and improve our much-appreciated databases.
In the application, we stated that the project goals were to: a) secure maintenance and updating of the QoG databases for the next four years in order to remain the primary provider of relevant and reliable QoG related data for the research community; b) improve the databases with a new sub-national dataset; c) develop a database of databases; d) develop and implement advanced variable search functionality for the website; and e) to provide a new platform for storage and documentation of more limited QoG related datasets collected by individual researchers or research projects.
Thanks to the economic support from RJ, we have been able to implement all work packages stipulated in the application. The regular databases have been updated and improved with new variables and datasets every year. We added two new datasets to our collection, which are the Environmental Indicator Dataset and the subnational EU Regional Dataset (2016 and 2020). We have also implemented highly sophisticated variable and data search-tool on our webpage, which is named Data Finder. Thanks to this new function (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/data-finder) students and researchers can utilize a keyword-based data search. After typing in a target term, the system provides one with a list of relevant indicators that contain the keyword either in the variable name or in the variable description. Information is also given on where to find the variable(s) at hand, in which datasets, for which countries and years it is available. This is by itself an enormous improvement in terms of accessibility and user-friendliness. We also provide researchers with a space to host their QoG-related data, so they can focus on research while we take care of the hosting tasks.
To clarify, these grants have allowed us to maintain our data operations, where our compilation datasets and original datasets remain highly popular by users. To illustrate, some key metrics from the year 2021 shows the attractiveness of these datasets: we received more than 25 thousand downloads of datasets, about 35 thousand downloads of codebooks, and about 64 thousand unique webpage visitors (see appendix 1 for details). Even new datasets, such as the QoG Environmental Indicators dataset managed to attract hundreds of downloads during the latter part of this year it had been available online. We have continuously revised our compilation datasets with even more variables with each annual update, ensuring that our operation reflects state-of-the-art in this regard. We would also like to point to that these data users often result in material that are published in international outlets. As visible in appendix 2, the list of examples of published work from 2021 that use and cite QoG Datasets is broad and comprehensive.
The support provided by these funds enabled us to develop and implement several data visualization tools that, just as the variable search tool, can be accessed through the institute’s webpage (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/visualization-tools). These features allow users to create motion charts, maps and scatterplots, to mention some. By being able to develop our own tools, we have had the opportunity to configure these according to the needs of our researchers and students. Moreover, we now have total control over its functionality and we are no longer dependent on third party providers and license costs. All in all, after the implementation, we are now able to provide a cheap and flexible tool developed according to the needs of our QoG community.
Over the project term, we have also implemented a data storage center that can be accessed through the QoG Data webpage. Here we have documented and formatted various data collections conducted by individual researchers and research projects. The idea is to provide a sort of data archive for QoG related data collections for single countries or regions, basically data that has been collected but does not fit the purpose for the comparative time-series approach of the general QoG-databases. To illustrate, we recently posted the PERCEIVE dataset (by researchers Monika Bauhr and Nicholas Charron), which is an original survey of respondents across Europe, now freely accessible for users (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/data-downloads/perceive-survey-dataset).
With the financial help from this grant, we have also been able to launch the aforementioned “database of databases.” Over the years, the work with the QoG databases has given us a solid insight of different datasets around the world. While our main purpose over the years has been to collect and harmonize variables of relevance for QoG-related research from various datasets, we have also collected a lot of metadata that different users might find incredibly useful. This implies that we collected and systematized a vast amount of information about various datasets and sources that never has been systematically shared in public. The idea of a database of databases was to provide an overview over available data sources across the world. This idea became an even bigger project when we released the Data Finder; a webpage where people can search and find data we have gathered in a user-friendly fashion.
Last but not least, we would like to highlight that the funds from RJ proved instrumental to an endeavor we are very excited about for the future. Since one year back we are now one of eight partners in the research infrastructure DEMSCORE (Democracy, Environment, Migration, Social policy, COnflict, and REpresentation), which brings together some of the world's leading contextual research infrastructures and databases from various Swedish universities under one joint umbrella. This is another landmark for us as the joint effort of DEMSCORE member institutions will create a unique platform for social science data, and starting from the 2022 update, the QoG Datasets will also be accessible via the DEMSCORE website. This will ensure that QoG Data receives even more visitors and recognition.
In sum, thanks to the grant from RJ, we have been able to implement all work packages addressed in the initial application and the support provided by the RJ fund also allowed us to bring to life other tools not previously contemplated in our proposal. At the same time, it should be noted that the grant also has provided us with a solid ground for these four years where we, apart from the developments of the infrastructure, have been able to maintain and update already existing data sources. No matter how much effort is put into a database, as soon as it is not updated it is losing its relevance for the research community. We are very grateful for the help and support from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
The Quality of Government Institute’s Databases (IN160227:1).
We are very delighted that Riksbankens Jubileumsfond decided to fund our research application. The project is now finalized and the financial support has made it possible for us to maintain and improve our much-appreciated databases.
In the application, we stated that the project goals were to: a) secure maintenance and updating of the QoG databases for the next four years in order to remain the primary provider of relevant and reliable QoG related data for the research community; b) improve the databases with a new sub-national dataset; c) develop a database of databases; d) develop and implement advanced variable search functionality for the website; and e) to provide a new platform for storage and documentation of more limited QoG related datasets collected by individual researchers or research projects.
Thanks to the economic support from RJ, we have been able to implement all work packages stipulated in the application. The regular databases have been updated and improved with new variables and datasets every year. We added two new datasets to our collection, which are the Environmental Indicator Dataset and the subnational EU Regional Dataset (2016 and 2020). We have also implemented highly sophisticated variable and data search-tool on our webpage, which is named Data Finder. Thanks to this new function (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/data-finder) students and researchers can utilize a keyword-based data search. After typing in a target term, the system provides one with a list of relevant indicators that contain the keyword either in the variable name or in the variable description. Information is also given on where to find the variable(s) at hand, in which datasets, for which countries and years it is available. This is by itself an enormous improvement in terms of accessibility and user-friendliness. We also provide researchers with a space to host their QoG-related data, so they can focus on research while we take care of the hosting tasks.
To clarify, these grants have allowed us to maintain our data operations, where our compilation datasets and original datasets remain highly popular by users. To illustrate, some key metrics from the year 2021 shows the attractiveness of these datasets: we received more than 25 thousand downloads of datasets, about 35 thousand downloads of codebooks, and about 64 thousand unique webpage visitors (see appendix 1 for details). Even new datasets, such as the QoG Environmental Indicators dataset managed to attract hundreds of downloads during the latter part of this year it had been available online. We have continuously revised our compilation datasets with even more variables with each annual update, ensuring that our operation reflects state-of-the-art in this regard. We would also like to point to that these data users often result in material that are published in international outlets. As visible in appendix 2, the list of examples of published work from 2021 that use and cite QoG Datasets is broad and comprehensive.
The support provided by these funds enabled us to develop and implement several data visualization tools that, just as the variable search tool, can be accessed through the institute’s webpage (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/visualization-tools). These features allow users to create motion charts, maps and scatterplots, to mention some. By being able to develop our own tools, we have had the opportunity to configure these according to the needs of our researchers and students. Moreover, we now have total control over its functionality and we are no longer dependent on third party providers and license costs. All in all, after the implementation, we are now able to provide a cheap and flexible tool developed according to the needs of our QoG community.
Over the project term, we have also implemented a data storage center that can be accessed through the QoG Data webpage. Here we have documented and formatted various data collections conducted by individual researchers and research projects. The idea is to provide a sort of data archive for QoG related data collections for single countries or regions, basically data that has been collected but does not fit the purpose for the comparative time-series approach of the general QoG-databases. To illustrate, we recently posted the PERCEIVE dataset (by researchers Monika Bauhr and Nicholas Charron), which is an original survey of respondents across Europe, now freely accessible for users (see https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/data-downloads/perceive-survey-dataset).
With the financial help from this grant, we have also been able to launch the aforementioned “database of databases.” Over the years, the work with the QoG databases has given us a solid insight of different datasets around the world. While our main purpose over the years has been to collect and harmonize variables of relevance for QoG-related research from various datasets, we have also collected a lot of metadata that different users might find incredibly useful. This implies that we collected and systematized a vast amount of information about various datasets and sources that never has been systematically shared in public. The idea of a database of databases was to provide an overview over available data sources across the world. This idea became an even bigger project when we released the Data Finder; a webpage where people can search and find data we have gathered in a user-friendly fashion.
Last but not least, we would like to highlight that the funds from RJ proved instrumental to an endeavor we are very excited about for the future. Since one year back we are now one of eight partners in the research infrastructure DEMSCORE (Democracy, Environment, Migration, Social policy, COnflict, and REpresentation), which brings together some of the world's leading contextual research infrastructures and databases from various Swedish universities under one joint umbrella. This is another landmark for us as the joint effort of DEMSCORE member institutions will create a unique platform for social science data, and starting from the 2022 update, the QoG Datasets will also be accessible via the DEMSCORE website. This will ensure that QoG Data receives even more visitors and recognition.
In sum, thanks to the grant from RJ, we have been able to implement all work packages addressed in the initial application and the support provided by the RJ fund also allowed us to bring to life other tools not previously contemplated in our proposal. At the same time, it should be noted that the grant also has provided us with a solid ground for these four years where we, apart from the developments of the infrastructure, have been able to maintain and update already existing data sources. No matter how much effort is put into a database, as soon as it is not updated it is losing its relevance for the research community. We are very grateful for the help and support from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.