Microdata Information System MISSY: Benefits for Research with Official Microdata, DDI-Based Implementation, and Evaluation with Regard to FAIR Criteria

Abstract

This paper presents the microdata information system (MISSY). MISSY is a service of the German Mi-crodata Lab (GML) for empirically working scientists conducting research using microdata from official statistics. MISSY provides detailed metadata on individual data sets from the German (Microcensus) and European official statistics (e.g. EU-SILC, EU-LFS) and aims to facilitate the use of the data through user-friendly and quickly accessible data documentation. We address the documentation requirements of official microdata, elaborate the benefits of structured metadata for researchers and describe the resulting objectives and contents of MISSY. Subsequently, we introduce the specific technical implementation: A general description of the technical infrastruc-ture as well as the basic data model (DDI-based) and the import/export interfaces of the database. Finally, we discuss MISSY with regard to the FAIR criteria and show how MISSY contributes to official microdata being "FAIR".