Abstract
This paper provides technical details and user guidance on the Research Infrastructure of Chinese Foundations (RICF), a database of Chinese foundations, civil society, and social development in general. The structure of the RICF is deliberately designed and normalized according to the Three Normal Forms. The database schema consists of three major themes: foundations’ basic organizational profile (i.e., basic profile, board member, supervisor, staff, and related party tables), program information (i.e., program information, major program, program relationship, and major recipient tables), and financial information (i.e., financial position, financial activities, cash flow, activity overview, and large donation tables). The RICF’s data quality can be measured by four criteria: data source reputation and credibility, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. Data records are properly versioned, allowing verification and replication for research purposes.
Highlights
Background & SummaryScholarly interest in civil society in contemporary China began in the mid-1980s, especially after the 1989 Tiananmen Incident[1]
Interest in civil society in contemporary China began in the mid-1980s, especially after the 1989 Tiananmen Incident[1]
The lack of cultural diversity and indigenous paradigms is a major challenge for studying civil society in China[4], but little progress has been made since the 1980s5,6
Summary
Interest in civil society in contemporary China began in the mid-1980s, especially after the 1989 Tiananmen Incident[1]. Unlike the United States, where there are numerous institutions that provide database services to scholars (e.g., GuideStar, Urban Institute, and Foundation Center et al.), few counterparts in China have emerged and none of them can adequately serve academic research—the datasets are neither structured for research purposes nor accessible In responding to this critical data scarcity challenge, we built a database for studying Chinese foundations—the Research Infrastructure of Chinese Foundations (RICF). The other two are membership-based association (shehui tuanti) and social service organization (shehui fuwu jigou, formerly named as minban feiqiye danwei) Among these three organizational forms, foundations are the most developed organizational form and dominant civic power in China, and they are critical for strategically preserving the autonomy of civil society from state control[7]. It introduces the database structure, how to validate the data, the data collection procedure, and the data quality control mechanism
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