Skip to main content

2025

Philipp Breidenbach, Inga Heinze, Philip Raatz, Cristina Rujan, Sebastian Wichert

Handbook on Best Practices for Accessing Data through Firm Collaborations

Firm data collaborations offer unique opportunities to answer novel, policy-relevant research questions that cannot be addressed using traditional data sources. This handbook provides practical guidance for researchers seeking to access and use firm-generated data, drawing on first-hand experience and insights from structured interviews. It outlines the key steps of establishing and managing data collaborations between researchers and firms, from initiating contact to building long-term partnerships. The report addresses organizational, legal and methodological challenges, highlights the role of Research Data Centers, and provides advice for building trust-based, mutually beneficial collaborations. Designed for applied social scientists, the handbook helps assess whether such collaborations are a good fit, and how to make them work in practice.

KonsortSWD

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17077319