Discuss Data

Research ethics are increasingly standardised in Western academia. But how well do these standards fit the specific contexts of Central Asia? Several recent publications offer valuable insights, writes Heiko Pleines in a new post for our Discuss Data Blog: discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

A new blogpost by Sveta Erpylova from PS LAB focuses on the question how to conduct ethical research on sensitive topics in an authoritarian state, when informed consent is difficult to obtain. Check it out now & spread the word: discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se... #ethnography #InformedConsent #Russia

This is a great issue of @cpcs.bsky.social which we highly recommend! For more discussions about methodological challenges and data collection, you can also check out our new blog on such topics: discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

In a new blog contribution by Yerkebulan Sairambay, an Academy in Exile Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities (@kwi-essen.bsky.social), the author discusses data availability and challenges of data collection in #Kazakhstan.

New piece on our DiscussDataBlog: Sveta Erpyleva from PS Lab discusses the important issue of trust when conducting qualitative fieldwork on sensitive topics in authoritarian wartime Russia: discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

A new blog piece by Heli Simola (@bofit.suomenpankki.fi) looks at official Russian statistics. Read, why there is greater uncertainty surrounding Russian statistics, making them harder to interpret and requiring extra scrutiny. 👇 discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

"What Do Belarusians Really Think? Unfortunately, We Do Not Know (Much)" That's the title of our latest blog piece by Stas Gorelik, a researcher working on Belarus. Read here if you want to know why the author has this opinion: discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se... #Belarus #PublicOpinion #Data #Surveys

The complete #CentralAsiaBarometer dataset (waves 1–14, 2017–2023) is now available in #OpenAccess on Discuss Data. We're proud to have archived and secured this data — especially since CAB has ceased operations and future access was potentially at risk. discuss-data.net/dataset/1d10...

Our second blogpost is already online: Valentyn Hatsko & Dmytro Andreiev (both Kyiv School of Economics) analysed 15.000 news items in order to understand, how and what Ukrainian media report (and what they omit) about public opinion polls. discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

Many thanks for the opportunity to write the opening contribution to this exciting new blog! Although digital forensic process tracing is not at the centre of my current @leverhulme.ac.uk project, it is very much something I consider important and would like to come back to soon. So have a read!

Discuss Data launches a blog, where experts from the research community share their insights on research data, data collection & analysis, methods and best practices. The first contribution by @hauterjakob.bsky.social is on "Digital Forensic Process Tracing": discuss-data.net/cs/eescca/se...

#Oligarchs are among the most controversial figures in the post-Soviet region: On the one hand they are major employers, but on the other they have a poor reputation. A new open access dataset from #Ukraine reveals what people there think of oligarchs: discuss-data.net/dataset/5e9d...

Reading recommendation: @theins.press published a new piece, in which the author claims, that #Rosstat changed the methodology for calculating the Gini coefficient in order to manipulate inequality 📊 statistics in #Russia. The goal? Hiding record high inequality 👇 theins.press/en/economics...

A new #OpenAccess dataset contains all non-combatant airspace violations in Europe during the Russo-Ukrainian war for the period from 24 February 2022 to 17 May 2026 for which information could be found. The majority of violations occured in #Romania and #Moldova. doi.org/10.48320/605...

Official Russian economic data should be handled with care: German & Swedish authorities report, that #Russia is manipulating economic #statistics, making them unreliable. The Russian 2025 budget deficit is approximately $30 bn/41.8% (!) higher than officially stated www.reuters.com/business/ger...

🥸 Who will publish data set no. 300 on Discuss Data? As of now, we have exactly 299 datasets!

Lots of Russian regions are raising their sign-on bonus right now, indicating recruitment problems. Just in the last weeks: Volgograd 2.6m YaNAO 3.6m Astrakhan 2.6m Rostov 3m Khabarovsk 2.1m Magadan 3.6m Sakha/Yakutia 2.1m KhMAO 3.55m Kab-Balk 2.4m Karach-Cherk 2.4m Novosibirsk 2.9m Sevastopol 1.5m

The four big challenges in studying Russia since 2022 Well, it's not really four, but 'access', 'self-censorship', '(un)representative data', and 'ethics' are a decent approximation. A post about some talks at BASEES 2026. postsocialism.org/2026/04/13/t...

After the full-scale Russian invasion, millions of Ukrainians have left the country. What do we know about them, their integration into the host countries, their intentions for the future? The 5th wave of the CES Ukrainian War Refugees Abroad survey provides insights discuss-data.net/dataset/d897...

Studying Russian public opinion during the war is difficult. Still, some projects produce meaningful data. One example is the Panel Study of Russian Public Opinion and Attitudes (PROPA). All 5 PROPA waves from 2024-2025 are now available in open access, e.g. wave 5: discuss-data.net/dataset/5947...

Reading recommendation: this article provides some data on the (upcoming) Russian demographic crisis:

A report about our first DiscussDataLab, that we held in August 2025 on the topic "Challenges of Data Collection, Re-use, and Analysis: Public Opinion, Political Debates, and Protests in the Context of the Russo-Ukrainian War" in Bremen, has been published: www.hsozkult.de/conferencere...

Since we have a critical mass of datasets (+20) that deal with #repression, we have opened a new category for this topic. The curator, Jan Matti Dollbaum, is currently conducting his own research on repression. You can browse through our repression data here: discuss-data.net/categories/r...

Hardly any other topic in #Ukraine is as hotly debated as #corruption. A new dataset by the renowned Kyiv International Institute of Sociology #KIIS shows, how the perception of #anticorruption changed in recent years: discuss-data.net/dataset/7909...

OTD 12 years ago, the #Maidan #protest (and also the "anti-Maidan") raged in #Ukraine and changed the country permanently & thoroughly. What do Ukrainians think today about the protests? A new #OpenAccess dataset on Discuss Data provides interesting insights: discuss-data.net/dataset/fd48...

The "Caucasus Barometer" is a longitudinal survey about socio-economic issues & political attitudes in the countries of the #SouthCaucasus: #Armenia, #Azerbaijan and #Georgia. This unique set of data (years 2008-2024) is now available in #OpenAccess on Discuss Data: discuss-data.net/dataset/3f7d...

The dataset on Russian repression against Crimean Tatars in occupied Ukraine is also available in open access on Discuss Data: doi.org/10.48320/18E...

What do the people in #Georgia - a country itself attacked by #Russia in 2008 - think about the Russian full scale war against #Ukraine? A newly published dataset by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers provides insight into public opinion on this topic in Georgia: discuss-data.net/dataset/df02...

The updated #OpenAccess dataset by Heiko Pleines on #Oligarchs in #Ukraine between 2000-2025 gives a profound overview of the development of Ukraine's richest persons. In this version, information on leaked offshore links and sanctions have been added: discuss-data.net/dataset/0836...

A new dataset on #Georgia is online, providing rich data on key aspects of Georgian society, including employment, income, religion, media consumption, political preferences, and institutional trust. It contains data of 24 waves of omnibus surveys between 2019-2025: discuss-data.net/dataset/696d...

A fascinating and unique new dataset on Discuss Data offers a deep insight into the change of #language usage in #Ukraine. The open access dataset consists of merged data from 141 representative surveys conducted between 1991-2024 by KIIS: doi.org/10.48320/A64...

We forgot to mention the author: @aaronerlich.bsky.social

Reading recommendation: In a recently published article in Post-Soviet Affairs, Aaron Erlich conducts a survey in Ukraine to learn more about survey research during war. He concludes: "The results demonstrate wartime attitudes and behavior in Ukraine can be reliably measured" doi.org/10.1080/1060...

Reading recommendation: @alinanychyk.bsky.social and Paul D'Anieri discuss "Ukrainian public opinion and the path to peace with Russia". Some of the cited surveys are available on @discussdata.bsky.social. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In recent days, our colleagues from the Caucasus Research Resource Center in Tblisi have published a lot of #OpenAccess datasets on #Georgia on our Discuss Data platform, among them a #survey on "Conflicts in Georgia: Perceptions, Attitudes and Expectations 2024": discuss-data.net/dataset/519c...

A new blogpost by @edklein.bsky.social for the Konkoop DataLab BLOG summarizes what our Discuss Data project essentially is: A safe haven for data from increasingly authoritarian contexts, a collaborative space for research data management, a place to discuss data 👇 konkoop.de/index.php/bl...

A new dataset on #Kazakhstan has been published on Discuss Data: Internet and Social Media Use for Information about (Inter)National News and Politics in Kazakhstan, based on Central Asia Barometer survey data and available in open access: discuss-data.net/dataset/7da4...

As talk of negotiations continues, ordinary Russians remain uncompromising. Around 40% say that troops should withdraw only after annexing part of Ukraine & regime change (i.e., ousting Zelensky). Only 10% support an unconditional, immediate withdrawal.

Many datasets have been recently published on our platform. Among them "Attitudes Toward Stalin and the Soviet Past in Ukraine" (OA). It provides insightful longitudinal data on how public opinion in #Ukraine on #Stalin and the #USSR changed between 1991–2024: discuss-data.net/dataset/1447...

We’re excited about the success of our first #DiscussDataLab we had this week! From challenges of data preparation/publication/visualization to ethics, methodology, and exchanges on participants’ own research data - it was a great & insightful workshop. Many thanks to all participants & experts!

Preparations for our first #DiscussDataLab next Monday are nearly complete! We can’t wait to welcome participants to Bremen for lively discussions on “all things data” with our experts. Check out the full program: discuss-data.net

A unique dataset by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on Self-Assessed Household Financial Situation in Ukraine (1994-2024) was published in open access. It provides a longitudinal overview, how personal financial well-being changed over three decades: discuss-data.net/dataset/b78f...

How did Ukrainians' views on victory in the Russo-Ukrainian War change over time? A new merged dataset by DIF based on eight survey waves between 2022 and 2024 provides a longitudinal perspective on this topic. The open access data is accessible on Discuss Data and Zenodo: zenodo.org/records/1567...

Today Discuss Data was presented at the workshop “Science Excellence in Central Asia: Between SCOPUS Fetishisation, Predatory Journals, and Survival Strategies of Researchers” in Tashkent. The presentation showcased how Discuss Data helps researchers boost the visibility of their work & access #data

Our colleague Felix Herrmann attended the "The Most Documented War: Enacting Archives" symposium in Lviv, Ukraine, where he gave a well-attended presentation on data archiving and publication in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine. Photos: Center for Urban History / Bohdan Yemets.

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Our colleague Felix Herrmann explained in the recent @zois.bsky.social-podcast, why research data matters, especially for researching Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where governments use data for surveillance and make it increasingly difficult to access data: www.zois-berlin.de/podcast-roun...

Next week, Discuss Data will be present at the Symposium "The Most Documented War: Enacting Archives" which takes place in Lviv/Ukraine. If anyone happens to be there: talk to us! More information about the event: www.index-ukraine.org/news/the-mos...