Assessing the FAIRness of survey data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

This study investigates the FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) of survey data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. During the pandemic, surveys played a crucial role in capturing public attitudes and health-related behaviors, but researchers often faced a trade-off between rapid data collection and implementing high-quality survey designs. Using metadata from the “Survey Data Collection during the COVID-19 Pandemic” (SDCCP) project, which documents 717 surveys conducted in Germany, we assessed the FAIRness of surveys published with a persistent identifier or project website using the F-UJI assessment tool. Our results show substantial variation in FAIRness scores. Surveys can be divided into two groups, with one group achieving around 88.46% FAIRness and the other averaging around 65.38%. These differences are correlated with survey design. Surveys using fast and cost-efficient designs also exhibit lower FAIRness. The findings highlight that the trade-off between rapid data production and methodological rigor during the pandemic also affected the availability and reusability of survey data.