Help, My Data Is Gone!

It can happen that the data you've collected with SoSci Survey is deleted. Reasons for this are:

• If you stop using a survey project for several months, we assume that you've completed the survey and downloaded the data. Before that, you will receive an email that the data will be deleted as a reminder.
  • On www.soscisurvey.de projects are archived 3 months after the last login in the project (not in the user account).
  • On the pro server s2survey.net the automatic archiving is done after 12 months.
  • On other servers the period until deletion is determined by the respective server operator.
• You have (accidentally) clicked on Delete all data (Delete Data) and confirmed the request again with the red button.
• You have downloaded the data and deleted the survey project from the server. But the computer, laptop or USB stick is defective and you haven't made a backup of the data.

However, the data collected in the questionnaire may be urgently needed because a final, bachelor, master or diploma thesis, a dissertation or a DFG project depends on this data. Then the question comes up whether the lost data can be recovered.

Note: If you've only deleted a question or an item from your list of questions, please read on here: Delete Questions, Items and Response Options

Note: If you only need the questionnaire again, not the collected data, then download the archive file (XML) in your My Account under Projects and then follow these instructions: Copying or Moving a Survey Project

There may be backup copies (server backups) of the data prior to deletion.

Important: First, please check on which survey server you conducted your survey. The easiest way to see this is the link to the questionnaire that you sent to the respondents. If it does not start with https://www.soscisurvey.de/… or https://s2survey.net/…, the server may not be operated by SoSci Survey GmbH, but, e.g., by a university.

• At www.soscisurvey.de, daily backups are kept for the last 7 days, and at least one backup per month for the last 12 months. However, this does not apply to email addresses (mail merge address list) and separately collected contact data (see below).
• Daily backup copies are kept on the s2survey.net pro server for 1 month. To comply with personal data processing requirements, all backup copies are deleted after 1 month.
• On other survey servers please contact the respective operator.

After 12 months, backup copies will be deleted from www.soscisurvey.de in accordance with the privacy policy. Data deleted on SoSci Survey more than 12 months ago generally cannot be restored from backup.

Since the GDPR came into force, personal data (mail merge address list and separately collected contact data) is also backed up on www.soscisurvey.de separately from the data that is otherwise collected in the questionnaire. The backups of personal data are already deleted after 1 month, a restoration of the serial mail address list (incl. opt-in) and separately collected contact data is no longer possible after that.

Extracting the project data and entering it into the running database is very time-consuming. In order not to tie up resources unnecessarily, we only restore data if it is really worth the effort. To ensure this, we ask for one of the following compensations for restoring from backup:

• You donate an amount of at least 60 € to a non-profit organization of your choice (except daycare centers and other institutions where the donation directly benefits you or your relatives) and send us a receipt of the donation. The data download is unlocked after the donation has been proven.
• We invoice commercial users directly for the effort (60 € plus VAT).

Restoring data from the backup is time-consuming and not free of charge (see above).

There is no guarantee that we can restore deleted data. There is (apart from a few exceptions) no entitlement to the restoration of deleted data.

If you want to order a restoration of the data under the conditions above, please proceed as follows:

1. Please make sure that the survey project was conducted on the server www.soscisurvey.de or s2survey.net.
2. In your user account, check the project logs to see when the archiving took place and whether this time is within the backup retention period (12 months or 1 month, respectively).
3. Then contact us by email to info@soscisurvey.de and specify
   • which project it is about and what the link to the questionnaire was,
   • when the data was deleted,
   • which compensation you want to provide for the restoration of the data (see above), and
   • your billing address, in case the compensation is not provided.
4. We then take care of restoring the data; it usually takes 2-3 days to bring all data back to the right place. Depending on timing and workload, the restoration may be delayed further.
5. When we have successfully completed the restoration, you take care of the compensation.
6. After that, we unlock the data download for the survey project again.
7. Should the compensation not be provided within 14 days, you will receive an invoice for 60 € plus VAT from us.