On 16 June 2023, the ERC Curiae Virides team held an expert workshop on building databases at the Brussels School of Governance (Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)). We invited scholars whose current or recent research involved the creation of a brand-new dataset for quantitative analysis. Our purpose was to exchange experiences, more specifically, the challenges they encountered in different steps of the process and the solutions they applied to overcome them.
This blogpost is divided as follows: in Part 1 we talk about the importance of finding and using only reliable sources; Part 2 deals with the challenge of designing the correct variables and indicators/variable categories; in Part 3 we talk about the need for multiple iterations; part 4 explains the importance of keeping a log book; and Part 5 contains our concluding remarks.
