ZIB – Centre for International Student Assessment

The associated member ZIB | Centre for International Student Assessment (Zentrum für internationale Bildungsvergleichsstudien e.V.) conducts educational research in the field of international comparative studies in education, thus making a significant contribution to quality assurance in education. Its core responsibilities include the planning, implementation and evaluation of the PISA studies in Germany. Another focus is on research projects dealing with methods of data collection and evaluation in PISA studies and other international comparative studies in education (so-called large-scale assessments, or LSA for short). In its further research activities, ZIB mainly concentrates on issues of practical relevance. ZIB also places importance to including questions from those involved in educational practice. It conducts in-depth analyses of existing data and shares the insights gained with educational policymakers and practitioners. These stakeholders use the well-founded knowledge to make decisions in educational policy and practice, as well as to develop informational materials for the respective actors. The project is being implemented jointly with three members of the LERN network: DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, IPN | Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, and IQB | Institute for Educational Quality Improvement. ZIB is an affiliated institute of the Technical University of Munich and is funded by the German federation federal and federal states.

Important Work and Services:

ZIB is responsible for the national coordination and implementation of PISA and is furthermore involved in its international development.
Research at ZIB focuses primarily on three fields: Educational Monitoring, School and Teaching Research and Methodology Research.
ZIB supports young researchers in international student assessments, especially with method workshops and junior researcher academies.
ZIB maintains close contact with educational practice and policy to make the scientific findings applicable for improving the quality of education.

University of Luxembourg

At the associated partner “University of Luxembourg” is the research group „Educational Processes in Contemporary Societies“ consisting of members from two Institutes devoted to educational research. It connects social scientific perspectives on education and learning processes (educational theory, philosophy, history, and sociology). The main focus is on educational policies, systems, and processes within particular cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts. Thus, particular importance is placed on historical, cross-national, and international perspectives. Objects of study, whether in quantitative or qualitative or historical and institutional analyses, are education policies, system development, learning processes and teaching, and learning within and outside educational organizations.

Activities:

The activities of the research group include editing journals and book series, contributing to national education reports (Germany, Luxembourg), organizing international conferences, evaluation and consulting in a range of countries and advisory board membership.

Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi)

The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg investigates educational processes from birth through to advanced adulthood. In order to promote longitudinal educational research in Germany, LIfBi provides fundamental, research-based infrastructures of supra-regional and international relevance for empirical educational research.

At the core of the institute is Germany’s largest long-term educational study, the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which is based at LIfBi and brings together the expertise of a nationwide, interdisciplinary network of excellence. Further large-scale projects for which LIfBi collects and/or provides longitudinal data include, in addition to the refugee studies ReGES and BildungswegeFlucht, the inclusion study INSIDE as well as the monitoring study Data Literacy. These activities are grounded in the institute’s own research and development work, in particular in the well-established development of instruments and methods for longitudinal educational studies, from which other research projects also benefit.

Important work and services:

Through the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), longitudinal data representative of Germany are collected on competence development, educational processes, educational decisions, and educational returns in formal, non-formal, and informal contexts across the entire life course. A total of more than 70,000 participants are followed in seven starting cohorts—from early childhood to advanced adulthood. In addition, around 50,000 individuals from participants’ social environments, such as parents and educational professionals, are surveyed.

The Research Data Center of LIfBi (FDZ-LIfBi) prepares the survey data from LIfBi’s large-scale projects in a user-friendly manner and provides them free of charge as Scientific Use Files for academic analysis. The data offering includes the extensive NEPS datasets, complemented by specialized NEPS data products, the longitudinal data from the refugee study ReGES, the TAEPS study on instructors in adult and continuing education, the GUS study on students’ health behavior, as well as other unique datasets, such as the regional study BiLO. The full range of LIfBi research data and related services is available via the FDZ-LIfBi data and service portal.

The DFG Priority Programme “New Data Spaces for the Social Sciences” (SPP 2431) aims to research and develop technical and methodological solutions to ensure the future viability of panel surveys, to enrich them with data from other sources, and thereby to further pave the way for social science research addressing key societal challenges. “New Data Spaces” is coordinated and managed by the overarching project CONNECT, which is based at LIfBi. SPP 2431 also includes a “Research Infrastructure and Innovation Lab” (ENTAILab), comprising four measures. Measure 4, “Results for Future Data Spaces and Open Science,” as well as two projects within the Priority Programme, are also based at LIfBi.

IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

The IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education was established in 1966 as a research center for science education. It is affiliated with Kiel University. The department heads at the IPN hold professorships at Kiel University, one department head holds a professorship at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The institute’s mission is to advance science and mathematics education through its research. Recently, it has also incorporated computer science education into its agenda. The institute’s research covers a full range of issues related to teaching and learning these subjects both in and outside of schools. The institute comprises seven academic departments: Educational Research and Educational Psychology, Educational Measurement and Data Science, Subject-Related Knowledge Transfer, Biology Education, Chemistry Education, Mathematics Education, Physics Education, and a Computer Science Education Research Group. The IPN employs more than 200 people, around 140 of whom are scientists, including 50 doctoral students.

The IPN conducts long-term and nationwide research and transfer projects, which cannot be carried out by universities.

The IPN’s research program focuses on the following areas:

Domain-Specific Learning in Preschools and Schools
Professional Competence and Learning of Teachers
Science Communication and Extracurricular Learning
Methodological Research and Machine Learning

The IPN’s transfer activities comprise various formats such as coordinating national and international student competitions in biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental issues, programs for teacher (educators) education, and publications for teachers and the general public.nd publications on science and mathematics education addressing teachers and scientists.

Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology (HIB)

The Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology (HIB) is a research institute within the University of Tübingen. The institute focuses on individual, social and institutional determinants of learning and teaching processes. It takes an inter-disciplinary approach drawing from psychology, educational science and other disciplines. The Hector Research Institute is mainly funded by the Hector Foundation II. In addition, the state Baden-Württermberg funds the Tübingen Postdoctoral Academy for Research on Education (PACE).

Research at the institute can be grouped into the following six focus areas: (1) Educational Effectiveness, (2) Motivation, (3) Personality, (4) Potential Development and Giftedness, (5) Teaching Quality and Professional Competencies of Teachers as well as (6) Methodological Research. The institute played a leading role in the establishment of the LEAD Graduate School (Learning, Eduational Achievement and Life Course Development) which was funded by the Excellence Initiative via the German Research Foundation and has since developed into a flourishing research network.

Important work and services:

The Hector Research Institute is responsible for the multi-cohort longitudinal studies TOSCA, which examines educational biographies of high school students, and TRAIN, which analyses effect of learning environments in lower tracks in secondary education. With Professor Hasselhorn (DIPF) the institute also runs the scientific evaluation of the Hector Children’s Academies.
Regarding research on methods, the Hector Research Institute develops new statistical tools and strives to make them freely available as software (e.g. see here).
Within the National Education Panel Study (NEPS), the Hector Research Institute coordinates the focus area „From Upper Gymnasium Level and Transition to Higher Education, Vocational Training, or the Labor Market“ together with Professor Maaz (DIPF).

GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

As the largest German infrastructure institute for the social sciences, GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, with its expertise and services, stands ready to support researchers on the basis of the newest scientific methods, high quality data and research information.

Research projects generally go through a process with several phases – the research data cycle. Therefore, the services offered by GESIS-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences are structured along a four-phase research data cycle, as follows:

Plan studies & collect data
Finding & retrieving data
Prepare & analyze data
Archive & share

GESIS offers consulting and practice-oriented guidance for each phase.
In the first phase, for example, GESIS experts advise on the collection of survey data and digital behavioral data. Researchers are supported in the development of an adequate project design and the quality assurance of the implementation.
The second phase, Find & Retrieve Data, enables researchers to find the appropriate data for secondary analysis. For this purpose, more than 6500 national and international studies are available in the GESIS data archive.
The preparation of data is also an essential step on the way to their analysis. Therefore, in the third phase Prepare & Analyze Data, GESIS supports the modification, linking, and analysis of data.
In the fourth phase, Archive & Share, GESIS promotes scientific transparency in line with the FAIR principles: F(indable) A(ccessible) I(nteroperable) and R(e-usable).
At GESIS, researchers can find repositories and services to archive, register, and share their data and publications over the long term.

The services offered for the research process are based on our own continuous and interdisciplinary research in the four areas of Survey Methodology, Research Data Management, Current Societal Issues, and Applied Informatics, as well as within their intersections.

Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS)
The department Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) is Germany’s central infrastructure for the registration, documentation and digital archiving of quantitative research data which can be used to analyze societal developments from a national, internationally comparative or historical perspective.

Research Data Center
The Research Data Centers (RDC) at GESIS offer a special service for a number of survey programs for which GESIS partially participate in the data collection or permanently take over the tasks of data processing, archiving and delivery

One of GESIS’ most important research areas is education research. GESIS is involved in significant German, European, and international projects: Within PIAAC, GESIS is part of the PIAAC Consortium, which is the board responsible for planning and controlling. GESIS is also responsible for the German project management. An enhancement is PIAAC-L, a project that is implemented together with LIfBi and SOEP. It is the first internationally comparable long-term study worldwide for competencies in adulthood. Further selected GESIS projects within the area of educational research are:

CIDER – College for Interdisciplinary Education Research for the support of talented junior researchers in interdisciplinary context
Feasibility study for the Baden-Württemberg-Panel to generate progress data on the transfer from education at school and vocational training
CAMCES – Computer-Assisted Measurement and Coding of Educational Qualifications in surveys to make the internationally greatly varying survey tools for education comparable in survey data.

German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW)

DZHW provides applied empirical research in the field of higher education and science studies. As research institution of the Federal State and the Länder (Bund-Länder-Einrichtung) it works nationally and internationally as a partner of the scientific community and both higher education and science policies. Committed to politically independent and excellent research DZHW develops and elaborates innovative, socially and politically relevant issues regarding tertiary education and science. The research and service tasks of DZHW are organized in four research units:

Educational Careers and Graduate Employment
Longitudinal studies regarding educational and occupational trajectories, returns to education, in particular regarding decision to study, progress of studying, occupational and scientific careers.

Research System and Science Dynamics
Examinations of the development of the system of research and science in the international context and of the interactions of different structures of governance, funding, and promotion.

Governance in Higher Education and Science
Studies with respect to indicator systems of universities and scientific organizations, regarding the structures of governance of scientific continuing education at universities and examinations of structures and processes of governance with an organization-sociological perspective.

Research Infrastructure and Methods
Provision of research infrastructure, data sets, databases, buildup of the research data centre. The Research Data Centre for Higher Education and Science Studies (RDC-DZHW) archives quantitative and qualitative data from the field of higher education research and science studies and makes them available to researchers and teaching staff for secondary use.

Important work and services:

Longitudinal studies on persons with university entrance qualifications, students (e.g., social surveys of students since 1951, eurostudent), graduates, PhD students and PHD graduates;
NEPS 1: From Higher Education to the Labor Market (NEPS Starting Cohort 5 „First-Year Students“)
The DZHW is in the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) responsible for the Starting Cohort 5 (First-Year Students) which following up a cohort of first-year students throughout their studies and into their careers. Particular attention will be paid to investigating educational decisions, the development of competencies, the returns to higher education, and the transition to the labor market;
NEPS 2: Panel of Teacher Education Students
The DZHW examines the study progress and success and the career start of teacher education students (additional sample of NEPS Starting Cohort 5) as well as potential differences in interests, occupational orientation and previous educational biographies compared to other students;
NEPS 3: Returns to Education Across the Life Course;
The DZHW examines as member of pillar 5 “Returns to Education Across the Life Course” of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) the non-monetary returns to education like health, deviance and social and political participation;
Educational monitoring and reporting (contributions to „National Report on Education” or ”National Report on Junior Scholars”;
Competence Centre for Bibliometrics for the evaluation of research performance;
RCD-DZHW with data sets of higher education research and science studies;
Services for Federal State and State (Länder) administrations, universities, commissions and boards, science organisations and researchers. More information can be found here (in German).

DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education

The DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education provides a central information infrastructure for and about education in Germany, expanding scientific foundations by conducting research in its own right. As a national centre for educational research, DIPF investigates education from systemic, institutional, individual and historical perspectives. Accordingly, it critically reflects on existing concepts for quality, governance and improvement. DIPF delivers theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions, connecting fundamental research with innovative developmental work and applications for the benefit of society. Owing to its diversity of disciplines, long-term experience in co-ordinating large-scale projects, national and international networking and positioning as a competence centre for knowledge communication and research on education, the Institute is particularly well equipped to react flexibly with respect to complex demands and diverse developments in education, and to provide incentives for the further development of education systems.

Important work and services:

DIPF holds a leading role in national educational reporting, commissioned by the federal government (Bund) and states (Länder).
DIPF continually takes on relevant tasks in the context of large-scale OECD studies on education (PISA, PIAAC).
In co-operation with Goethe-University Frankfurt and the Sigmund-Freud Institute (in German), DIPF runs the interdisciplinary centre for research on individual development processes in children and adaptive instructional design, IDeA.
The German Education Server is a central guide to education on the web. Jointly funded by the federal government (Bund) and the federal states (Länder), it is co-ordinated at DIPF.
The Research Data Centre for Education provides observation data (e.g., lesson videos) and interview data and related material. Questionnaires and individually indexed scales (item batteries) are also openly accessible. Registered users can download available anonymized transcripts, coding and descriptions
The Institute provides the German Education Portal (in German), the central access point to scientific information for educational researchers, educational scientists and pedagogical practice.
The interdisciplinary area of “Technology Based Assessment” is concerned with researching and developing new procedures in computer-based educational measurement.
The DIPF department “Research Library for the History of Education” is a centre for education historical research; it is the largest specialised pedagogical library in Germany.

German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE)

The German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE) is an extramural research institute, which processes the socially and educationally relevant task of substantiated learning and adult education acadamically and its succesful development. As a central institution for research, politics and practice, the DIE supports stakeholders in the field of continuing education with research findings and services. The range of tasks includes application-relevant and fundamental research, infrastructural services as well as counselling for politics and practice.

On this basis, the institute’s activities focus on two objectives: On the one hand, they support adult education science and research with national and international publications and research data. On the other hand, this knowledge contributes to the development and sustainable professionalization of practice. The claim is to acknowledge and meet the needs of science, practice and politics equally. Another objective is the productive exchange with international stakeholders to visualise adult education in Germany in the international context and to position it in the European educational debate. DIE employees elaborate research and infrastructural services in six departments, which are closely connected and cooperate in numerous projects. All research activities focus on the prerequisites, forms and consequences of adult learning. They cover all areas of continuing education: adult learning processes, didactic design of programmes, staff, organisation and management of continuing education institutions in various institutional contexts, and financial, political and legal aspects of the continuing education system. DIE services are a supporting pillar of the academic infrastructure in German continuing education – increasingly often in open access. This covers publications, statistical services, professional data base and portals as well as an academic specialised library for adult education.

Important Work and Services:

wb-web, a portal for teachers in adult and continuing education (only available in German), is a nationally unique information infrastructure for a user group of more than 530,000 full-time, freelance and part-time adult educators. wb-web provides basic information on the activity fields and an adult educational knowledge base. All materials are offered as open educational resources (OER).
The project OWL (Open web-based learning space for continuing professional development of adult educators) enhances an online learning opportunity for adult educators, which results in the development of the online learning space wb-web. It contributes to the professionalisation of educators, which is highly relevant for the quality and effect of continuing education.
The DIE publication series “DIE Survey. Data and reports on continuing education” (only available in German) covers current research findings gained in empirical studies of the continuing education system – available in open access. The publications are directed at stakeholders in education policy, practical continuing education, as well as national and international research. The series was launched in spring 2016 – its first titel was: „Das Personal in der Weiterbildung. Arbeits- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen, Qualifikationen, Einstellungen zu Arbeit und Beruf“ (“Staff in continuing education. Work and employment conditions, qualifications, attitude toward work and profession” – only available in German).
wb-personalmonitor – Personal in der Weiterbildung. Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und Tätigkeiten (wb-personell monitor. Staff in continuing education) is an extensive survey of adult and continuing education staff, which was conducted by the DIE, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The findings were published in the new publication series “DIE-Survey” (see above). Based on this data, staff in continuing education was first incorporated into the National Report 2016. (only in German)
The “Deutsche Weiterbildungsatlas“ (Atlas on German continuing education) is a research project in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation, which processes the transparency of regional and municipal differences in continuing education programmes and participation for the first time. Thus, striking differences of regional continuing education behaviour as well as inhibitory and encouraging factors of regional adult educational chances were identified. In a subsequent study on continuing education behaviour and programmes, the focus on districts and independent cities was more emphasised. The open access volume is available here (only in German).
Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung (Journal for Research on Adult Education) is the leading scientific journal for research debates and findings in the field of adult and continuing education science and associated disciplines. It is available only in German via open access.