New Services for Data Creators and Providers Louise Corti, Head ESDS Qualidata/ Outreach & Training Alasdair Crockett, ESDS Data Services Manager

New Services ESDS data acquisitions review process successfully implementing the ESRC Datasets Policy new user-friendly forms for depositors developments in data processing and management

ESDS data acquisitions review all potential depositors complete a brief data submission form (available for download) ARC reviews all new acquisitions and submissions in accordance with the ESDS Collections Development Policy ARC makes decisions about: –acceptance or rejection –data processing standard

ESRC Datasets Policy All research grant award holders to offer data collected during the course of their research for preservation and sharing through the ESDS ESDS take a lead role in implementing the ESRC Datasets Policy by: –providing advice and support to award applicants and award holders –providing discovery tools and finding aids to data resources –preserving or facilitating the preservation of data –providing access to data resources or facilitating access to data resources

Communicating with data creators ESDS works closely with data creators to ensure that high quality and well-documented data are produced contact early on in the data creation stage is better to ensure that data collected can be shared: –data are collected and prepared in accordance with ethical and legal requirements –data are fully supported by documentation that will enable informed secondary use

Working with ESRC data creators up-to-date streamlined ESDS website on data creation issues –bringing together advice for quantitative and qualitative data creators dedicated advisory service training days/workshops for data creators ESRC Research Programmes –circulating information early on –offering individual project help –attend Programme meetings where possible

User-friendly depositing forms former depositing process based on Depositor Forms: –overly long and bureaucratic forms –time consuming and burdensome to complete –unclear requests for information new Data Collection Deposit Form: –completed and returned electronically –downloadable to your PC (like ESRC application forms) –includes syntax and content checking

Benefits to ESDS streamlines the process automatically inputs study-related information from the form directly into a database ready for editing the studys catalogue record promotes comparable catalogue records using international metadata standards

Developments in data processing and management Ongoing: levels of processing (since Sept. 2001) –each study assigned to one of four levels: A*, A, B and C automation of data format conversion (since Jan 2003) –all data format conversions carried out via Visual Basic scripts Future: produce Guides to Good Practice for: –data creators: how to create high quality quantitative datasets suitable for preservation and secondary analysis –data managers: data format selection, metadata and documentation standards and content, version control, access, and authentication the Data Exchange Initiative (in collaboration with the MRC and the AHDS )

The Data Exchange Initiative –an XML schema capable of storing any rectangular social survey type of dataset. This will be the first archivally pure data preservation and interchange standard for social science datasets –the UKDA plans to define, maintain and promote the schema, and provide software to import into XML from the major proprietary formats (SPSS, STATA, SAS, Excel and Access), and to export back out from the XML to any of these proprietary formats

SPSS STATA SAS EXCEL ACCESS Data as XML SPSS STATA SAS EXCEL ACCESS DATA PRESERVATION XML file provides preservation master copy of the dataset Key functions of the Data Exchange software Text file giving variable-level report of any data or metadata loss on export File and variable level metadata exported to DDI XML file RESOURCE DISCOVERY (METADATA EXPORT)