Economic and Social Data Service

ESDS Overview provides access and support for key economic and social data distributed service, bringing together centres of expertise in data creation, dissemination, preservation and use provides seamless and easier access to a range of disparate resources for HE and FE sectors specialist data services: –ESDS Management –ESDS Access and Preservation –ESDS Government –ESDS International –ESDS Longitudinal –ESDS Qualidata

Funding jointly supported by: –Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) –Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) part of ESRC Research Resources Strategy (HE remit only) five year funding commitment

UK Data Archive, Essex MIMAS, Manchester Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR), Manchester Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Essex Partners

UK Data Archive - brief history founded by ESRC at Essex University in 1967 as a social science data archive collections: –surveys and censuses –registers - contemporary and historical –aggregate statistics –text - qualitative data –images - maps and photos –sound - interviews

Sources of data official agencies - mainly central government individual academics - research grants market research agencies public records/historical sources access to international data via links with other data archives worldwide

UKDA collection 4,000+ datasets in the collection 250+ new datasets are added each year orders for data per year datasets distributed worldwide per year staff of 55 History Data Service(HDS) in-house

Access to social science and economic data data for research and teaching purposes, used in all sectors and for many different disciplines web access to data and metadata data freely available for the majority of users data supplied in a variety of formats –statistical package formats (e.g. SPSS) –databases and spreadsheets –word-processed documents –pdf documents

Economic and Social Data Service Description of new services

ESDS Management responsibility of the UK Data Archive provides consistency and standards across the ESDS has a broad strategic role relating to a variety of stakeholders concerned with the supply, funding and use of social science data, creates a coherent publicity, promotion and outreach strategy for the whole service

Key deliverables include: a central help desk service a coherent and flexible collections development policy a central registration service operating across the ESDS, using Athens a universal portal for social science data resources

ESDS Access and Preservation hosted at the UK Data Archive represents the core of the ESDS focuses on the central activities of data: –acquisition –processing and documentation –long-term preservation –dissemination

ESDS Government large-scale government surveys, such as the General Household Survey and the Labour Force Survey are key data resources for social science researchers led by Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR) at Manchester with support from UKDA at Essex

Key deliverables I raise awareness of the research potential of the government datasets enhance user support through a dedicated help desk, user groups and FAQs work closely with both producers and users

Key deliverables II run training courses on key topics of interest, on specific statistical packages, and on methods of statistical analysis provide topic-related online course materials and a range of teaching datasets provide easy routes through the complex documentation of the government surveys

ESDS International led by MIMAS at Manchester and run jointly with the UKDA at Essex provides access and support for a range of international datasets – both macro and micro sources promotes and facilitates increased and more effective use of international datasets in research, learning and teaching across a range of disciplines

International data portfolio built around selected major international statistical databanks that collectively chart over 50 years of global economic, industrial and political change the data originate from: –the International Monetary Fund (IMF) –the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) –the UN Industrial Development Organisation –Eurostat –the UK Office for National Statistics

Key deliverables I develop a responsive acquisitions strategy that negotiates key international datasets for UK academic access web-based access to regularly updated macro-economic time series datasets help users to locate and acquire international micro-level datasets, such as Eurobarometer or ISSP

Key deliverables II use CommonGIS software to build an interactive web-based data exploration and visualisation interface to key international statistics develop key time series for alternative classifications of countries, such as highly indebted countries provide specialist support on international datasets, e.g. introductory and advanced guides run a programme of awareness and training courses

ESDS Longitudinal run jointly by UKDA and ISER at Essex provides value-added data enhancements, user support and training for a range of the most popular UK based panel and cohort studies: –British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) –National Child Development Survey (NCDS) –British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70) –Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)

Facilitating access to longitudinal data encourage linkage with other datasets not directly supported by ESDS, e.g. the ONS Longitudinal Study in conjunction with the ESRC National Strategy Committee identify new longitudinal data collections: –English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) –the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

create additional derived variables enhance data and documentation standards across all studies improve information on weighting, missing data, and statistical adjustments develop an online system for visualisation of documentation, subsetting and data matching mount online sampler files in Nesstar to facilitate the exploration of the content of data develop ways to make use of confidential data, especially geo-coded data, without prejudicing the confidentiality of those respondents Key deliverables I

provide user support via a mailing list and a help desk that links up with specialist user support provided by ISER and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the Institute of Education (IoE) host meetings and workshops for both novice and more advanced users run a training programme in conjunction with other existing training providers develop a searchable directory of researchers' interests maintain a catalogue providing details of other longitudinal data collections Key deliverables II

ESDS Qualidata provides access and support for a range of qualitative datasets, and is hosted by the UK Data Archive the work builds on Qualidata's expertise and international reputation in this area, developed over the past eight years

Types of qualitative data in-depth or semi-structured interviews focus groups case notes/records of meetings diaries and research diaries field notes/observations personal documents photos

Key deliverables enhanced user guides and digital samplers exemplars and case studies of re-use online access to qualitative data user support and training activities to support secondary analysis of qualitative data

Enhanced user guides and digital samplers providing a better understanding of the study and research methods enhanced users guides – detailed notes on study methodology and re-use; behind the scenes interviews with depositors; FAQs thematic pages – combining interviews digital samplers of classic sociology collections

Exemplars and case studies of re-use providing guidance on data resources and how to re-use them overview of ways of re-using data case studies of re-use including reflections and commentary full bibliography of re-use articles online packaged training resources user support and training programme

Online access to qualitative data new emphasis on providing direct access to collection content –supports more powerful resource discovery –greater scope for searching and browsing content of data (supplementary to higher level study-related metadata) –since users can search and explore content directly… can retrieve data immediately providing access to qualitative data via common interface (Edwardians Online) supporting tools for searching, retrieval, and analysis across different datasets

Working groups and user forums establish working groups to gain input and feedback on specific ESDS developments consult with bodies such as LTSN, RSC establish new user forums/networks exploit existing user forums (e.g. JIBS)

Phase I user consultation: research and teaching series of user surveys to aid: development of data enhancements data access and delivery services planning training programme user support strategies existing JISC 5/99 work on use of data in the classroom (HE focus )

Workshops and training programme service specific and joint workshops awareness days for new users thematic data resources events data confrontation: specific datasets; data handling skills; methodological issues; analytic skills - introductory and advanced level train the trainers workshops

Online training materials build on workshop and existing/contributed materials establish templates; keep simple commitment to keep up-to-date use relevant T and L standards build on existing/forthcoming T and L projects: TRaMMS; CHCC; X4L; RM programme

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