Excellent science and evidence-based policy require high-quality data. European survey research infrastructures (ESS, GGP, GUIDE, SHARE) provide unique data unavailable from other sources. At a time when responding to societal challenges requires a solid evidence base, this survey landscape provides essential data over the full life-course.
Excellent science and evidence-based policy require high-quality data. Fortunately, we are living through a data revolution, which is opening up new opportunities for better quality data to feed into both the policymaking process and scientific debates. Research infrastructures have been created to collect, process, organise and disseminate high-quality data. In Europe, there are four recognised survey-based research infrastructures. Regarded as ‘Landmarks’ on the basis of their proven importance and longevity there is the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the European Social Survey (ESS). The Generations and Gender Project (GGP) and Growing Up in Digital Europe (GUIDE) were both included as projects on the 2021 iteration of the ESFRI Roadmap. Together, these surveys complement one another by facilitating the capture of high-quality comparative and longitudinal survey data focussing on different age ranges in a life course perspective, and research areas. They allow social scientists to collect data tailored to answer specific research questions thereby providing unique data which is unavailable from other sources. At a time when responding to societal challenges requires a solid evidence base, this survey landscape provides essential data over the full life-course. Through cooperation and collaboration there is also a responsiveness to methodological developments to ensure that survey data continues to provide the needs of policy and science.
