Describe the overall purpose of the project.

Guidance questions:

• What is the aim of the research?
• What is to be achieved based on the research?
• How is the purpose delimited?

Recommendations:

• Keep the purpose description brief, precise, and in layman's terms.
• Avoid repetition of aspects belonging to project description or population.
• Pay attention to coherence with the rest of the project proposal.

Elaborate on the background and conditions for the research based on the project's purpose.

Guidance questions:

• What field of research does the project cover?
• What hypothesis or research questions are being researched or sought to be answered?
• Why is the population composed as it is (argumentation for composition, size, and data foundation)?

Regarding argumentation for data usage in the project description:

• Which topics does the project address, and how do basic data and any external data relate to these topics (see below for more on argumentation for data usage)?
• In describing data, overarching terms such as "socio-demographic registers" or "health data" are not sufficient. Instead, use specific terms such as "immigration," "education," "crime," and "income," as well as "diagnosis information," "medication data," and "tariffs".
• Argumentation for external data is described in the same way as basic data. This applies to both data for analysis purposes and for population formation.

Recommendations:

• Be aware that it is the responsibility of the data controller to ensure that the approved project proposal reflects, argues for, and documents all data associated with the project.
• Remember to select basic data under data content and describe external data under "Other data". Changes after project approval will require resubmission.
• Pay attention to the coherence between the description and the other parts of the project proposal.

Briefly describe the societal relevance of the project.

Guidance questions:

• What is the connection between the project's purpose and societal relevance?
• How is the project relevant to society as a whole?
• Publication alone does not constitute societal relevance.

Recommendations:

• Keep the description concise and credible.
• Be aware that projects for administrative or commercial purposes cannot be approved.
• Avoid repetition from the rest of the text and text that does not concern this specific project.

Describe the population(s) as precisely as possible. Ensure consistency between the project's purpose, description, data content, and the population(s). All registers and variables used for population formation must be listed in the register selector (basic data) or under "Other data" if external data is used for population formation.

Guidance questions:

• Who forms the population (institution, DST, SDS, others)?
• Where does any external population come from, and who provides it? What is the external population's data foundation, and how many observations does it contain?
• Can the population description be understood by others in case the institution's contact person or the FSE project manager delegates the project?
• Does the population description include all necessary registers and periods for population formation?
• If a full population is desired, has this been argued for in the project description (see above)?

Be aware that you can upload attachments to the population when dealing with particularly complex populations or populations with longer descriptions (e.g., populations formed based on industry or diagnosis codes).

If you want more information about population description, you can read more here.