Guide to ordering data from Sikt

Sikt (formerly NSD) provides access to a large amount of analysis-ready research data about people and society. The data has different access conditions, and here you will find guidance on how to order.

Foremost: Find the data you would like to order

You can search for data in our data catalogue: https://sikt.no/en/find-data

Check the access conditions for the data.

Some data have restricted access conditions, while others are openly available for download. If the data is available for order, you need to fill out a project description and an order form.

Ordering the data

You can log in with a Feide or Google account or create a new user. Once you are logged in, click on "Order dataset" again. 

Then click on the shopping cart at the top of the website. Here you can check that the correct dataset has been added to your order and add more datasets.

When all the datasets you want to order have been added, click on "Place order" in the shopping cart. 

Enter information about the project you want to order the data for. You can find existing projects or create a new project. 

Choose data format:

  • Her you can select the data format for your order. You can choose between SPSS, STATA, and CSV formats. If you are ordering qualitative data, you can ignore this step.  

State the institution responsible for the project:  

  • You can find your institution in the list or enter it manually by clicking "Institution is not on the list" and type in your institution's name in the text box above. 

What is the purpose of the project?  

  • Enter the purpose of the data order. This could for instance be research, teaching, or student purposes. If you are a student, you must choose either "doctorate" "master's thesis," "bachelor's thesis," or "semester assignment" and enter your supervisor's email address under "add supervisor." 

Who will have access to the data?

  • Here you need to enter the email addresses of everyone who will have access to the data for this project. After entering an email address, you must click the page for a new email box to appear. 
  • Submit order

When you have filled out the order form, click "Submit order." We will then receive your order in our system, and it will be either approved, rejected, or you will be asked to provide more information. 

Once the order has been approved, a data access agreement must be signed in order to download the data via "my page." Everyone who is listed as a data recipient in the order form will receive a signature request.

More data recipients can be added later if new project members need access to the data. In the agreement, one commits to, among other things, to not attempt to de-identify individuals in the dataset and to not share data with others who are not listed as data recipients in the project.

The agreement can be signed digitally, or it can be printed, signed by hand, scanned and uploaded. If you are a student and have ordered data for a student project, your supervisor must also sign a supervisor's declaration for you to download data via "my page." 

Once the data access agreement has been signed, the data can be downloaded via https://minside.nsd.no/data-access.

Ordering data containing personal data 

Access to data that contain person-identifying information will be decided by a data processing agreement between Sikt and the research institution responsible for the data.

You can order the data using the same procedure as described above.

When we receive your order form, we will evaluate if you meet the access conditions stated in the data processing agreement. If so, you will be asked to provide documentation that you are allowed to process personal data in your research project.