Semantic Retrieval Interface for Statistical Research Data

Statistical research data is the foundation for empirical studies. Researchers in economics or social sciences often obtain such data from external sources through specially designed retrieval interfaces from statistical offices, commercial data providers as well as from data agencies and other archives. With the advancements in data cataloguing and acquisition of long tail research data sets from individual scientists and institutes, the opportunity is there to install central services for a more holistic data search. In view of a rapid increase in amount of data available and by association an emerging retrieval problem, retrieval interfaces must make effective use of provided metadata in order to help find relevant data sets efficiently. This paper presents a multi-step retrieval interface that aims to support the researchers’ natural approach to data search and composition. Starting with an idea of the concepts that are to be compared, users kick off their search with thesauri terms and successively specify requirements according to their priorities until suitable data can be selected easily from a manageable number of matching data sets. The prototype presented in this paper also provides means for convenient data harmonization, which is an essential aspect especially when combining statistical data from different sources.