1. Peter Whitton The University of Manchester
Good morning, I’m Peter Whitton from The University of Manchester. Celia’s asked me to come along today to introduce the ESDS Countries and Citizens online learning material. This is a project close to my heart as I spent an enjoyable year at MIMAS designing, developing and evaluating these materials. Countries and Citizens builds neatly on the previous presentations by Jack and Jackie – as these materials have been designed as an entry into combining Micro and Macro data.
I have a few slides that explain a bit of the project background and then I’ll give a quick demo of the materials themselves.
Jack Neeshaw – Micro (survey data)
Jackie Carter - Macro
Peter Whitton
The University of Manchester
ESRC Research Methods Festival - July 2008

2. Background
‘Countries and Citizens: Linking International Macro and Micro Data’ is an online interactive training resource
Produced by MIMAS at The University of Manchester
Completed in May 2007
Funded by ESRC through the RDI
The Countries and Citizens: Linking International Macro and Micro Data resources were produced at MIMAS in The University of Manchester between May 2006 and May This was made possible by ESRC funding through the Researcher Development Initiative (RDI).

3. Aims
To create a teaching and learning resource for the Social Science research community
To enhance the use of the ESDS International data service
To promote increased and more effective use of international data in comparative research.
One of the keys aims of the project was to enhance the use of ESDS International data service which Jackie has already talked about in some detail

4. About the material Designed as a self-guided learning resource
Comprises five units
Created for postgraduates and novice researchers
Evaluated with UK-based students and academics at two workshops
Written by subject specialists
‘Countries and Citizens: Linking International Macro and Micro Data’ is an interactive training resource with online tutorials, activities, study guides and videos, which shows how to combine socio-economic data from country level aggregate databanks (macro data) with individual level survey datasets (micro data). These resources are free to UK academic community.
It comprises five units, each of which was written by a subject specialist and has been designed as a self-guided learning resource. Though specifically for postgraduates and researchers, it may also be of interest to undergraduates.

5. Stop press 34,000 unique users since May 2007
Majority of interest from users in US, UK, India and China
Re-branded and re-launched today
Materials updated, content moved to new location that you can at the bottom of the screen and re-launched as Countries and Citizens today. Celia has some brochures about the project please feel free to take one away with you and distribute them to anyone that you feel would benefit from the material