The Swiss StudentLife Study
Childpage navigation
The Swiss StudentLife study was conducted by the Social Networks Lab (research group of Christoph Stadtfeld) at ETH Zürich between 2016 and 2020. Its aim was to understand the emergence of a student community and its short-term and long-term effects on the academic outcomes and well-being of its members. While similar questions and settings are commonly examined using a single data collection technique (e.g. survey, observation), we employ multiple methods to map the social dynamics of the community at different time periods and on different time scales.
The study follows three cohorts of students (N1 = 226, N2 = 244, N3 = 652), who started 3-year bachelor programs at a Swiss technical university in 2016 and 2017. Members of each cohort shared most of their classes and often did course work in groups. Students came from various regions and countries; at the beginning of their studies, most of them did not know each other. However, after a few months they developed densely-knit multidimensional social networks, which were likely to influence their university experience and outcomes.
Codebook
The codebook of the Swiss StudentLife study can be viewed here (or as external page PDF download).
Data availability
In agreement with the ethics board of ETH Zürich (approval 2016-N-27), we follow a strict protocol ensuring the anonymity of the study participants. Only highly anonymized data samples are shared on publicly available servers.
However, data for replication and original research studies is made available to external researchers on request. For original studies, variables and research hypotheses need to be prespecified. Depending on data sensitivity, access can only be granted through ETH servers on-site after an instruction by trained project members.
Any queries regarding data access should go via the data request form.
Publications
The Swiss StudentLife Study in the Media
How a lockdown impacts our minds and relationships
ETH News on 24 July 2020
Giving chance a helping hand
ETH News on June 2020
Those who study together, are more successful in their exams
external page 20Minuten [German] on January 2019
Friends can help you pass your university exams
external page Index [Hungarian] on January 2019
Based on an Interview with András Vörös
The value of friendships in academic success
ETH-News on January 2019
Funding
The Swiss StudentLife Study gratefully received financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (funding no. 10001A_169965, 10DL17_183008) and from the rectorate of ETH Zürich.
Citation
Stadtfeld, C., Vörös, A., Elmer, T., Boda, Z., & Raabe, I. J. (2019). Integration in emerging social networks explains academic failure and success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(3), 792-797.
external page https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811388115
Vörös, A., Boda, Z., Elmer, T., Hoffman, M., Mepham, K., Raabe, I. J., & Stadtfeld, C. (2021). The Swiss StudentLife Study: Investigating the emergence of an undergraduate community through dynamic, multidimensional social network data. Social Networks, 65(1), 71-84.
external page https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.11.006
Elmer, T., Mepham, K., Hoffman, M., Boda, Z., Raabe, I. J., Vörös, A., & Stadtfeld, C. (2022). The Swiss Student Life Study: Codebook. external page https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9abjk