Our Customer:
GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
GESIS is the largest infrastructure institute for the social sciences in Germany. Researchers around the world use its data and services to understand social developments. GESIS is a member of the Leibniz Association and consortium leader of the Infrastructure for Research Data in the Social, Behavioural, Educational and Economic Sciences (KonsortSWD) within the framework of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).
The starting point
Smartphones are our constant companions in everyday life and are therefore ideally suited for social science surveys. However, their potential has thus far hardly been tapped into due to a lack of suitable software. Researchers were therefore to be provided with a digital platform for opinion research on which researchers can create their own surveys. These surveys are then displayed to study participants in native apps on their Android and iOS smartphones. For this purpose, GESIS purchased a white label solution GESIS AppKit and was looking for an experienced partner to further develop it and operate it sustainably using modern technologies.
The Project
ServicesConsulting, native app development, web development
MethodsClean code, test-driven development
TechnologiesReact Native, iOS, Android, Angular, Coachbase, Node.js, Nest.js, MinIO
cronn accompanied the project with competent advice and first-class technical development, taking the GESIS AppKit to the next level. This allowed us to create a kit of web application and native apps which mesh smoothly.
— Dr. Mareike Wieland, Service Manager GESIS AppKit, GESIS – Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences
Our service
As a software development partner, cronn further developed the GESIS AppKit and placed it on a flexible, future-proof foundation both technically and functionally. Researchers can now use a web application to create and administer surveys and retrieve results. Once a survey has been created and started, respondents receive an automatically generated access code. With the codes, the study participants then gain access to the digital questionnaires and conveniently fill them out in the native apps, downloadable from Apple's App Store and Google Play. This setup has several advantages:
- One platform for many studies: All projects are mapped and carried out centrally on a single platform
- Efficiency for research: An intuitive web interface allows complete study projects to be created in-browser without prior programming knowledge – including several questionnaires, individual question types, survey periods, and access codes for participants.
- Convenient for study participants: Participants can access the surveys via a QR code, then fill them out using nothing more than their own smartphone. In the inbox, they can keep track of all new and already answered questionnaires.
- Automated data export: The results can be conveniently exported as CSV files and processed after a study has been completed.
Customer benefit
With the development of the GESIS AppKit, cronn has created the technical basis for flexible, efficient, and scalable smartphone-based opinion research. The project shows how individual software development can make scientific work easier in the long term, and how a partnership between a research institution and a software company can create a modern research platform.
cronn Pluspoint
Flexible architectureSame-source web application and native apps
Advice on equal footingTransparency and flexibility for the customer
Long-term partnershipMany years of further development, maintenance, and care
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