1. Depositing Data for Archiving Libby Bishop ESDS Qualidata, University of Essex Changing Families, Changing Food Meeting University of Sheffield 15 March 2006

2. ESRC/JISC Economic and Social Data Service Data for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines official agencies - mainly government (e.g., Expenditure and Food Survey) individual academics - research grants market research agencies public records/historical sources links to UK census data qualitative and quantitative international statistical time series access to international data via links with other data archives worldwide history data service in-house (AHDS) 4,000+ datasets in the collection 200+ new datasets are added each year 6,500+ orders for data per year 18,000+ datasets distributed worldwide per year

3. Types of qualitative data diverse data types: in-depth interviews; semi-structured interviews; focus groups; oral histories; mixed methods data; open- ended survey questions; case notes/records of meetings; diaries/research diaries multimedia: audio, video, photos and text (most common is interview transcriptions) formats: digital, paper, analogue audio- visual data structures - differ across different document types

4. Benefits of archiving (for others) data centres /archives make (selected) data created available to other bona fide researchers preserve data using up-to-date curation systems and keep apace with technology and data trends provide support resource discovery and user support services provide access to enhanced data, e.g., combined, exemplars etc.

5. Standardised description (metadata) fields taken from DDI specification for social science datasets

6. Benefits of archiving (to you…) safeguards protect the interests of the original collector who may retain Intellectual Property Rights preserve data using up-to-date curation systems and keep apace with technology and data trends a good backup procedure will protect against: –accidental changes to or deletion of data –problems with version control –virus infections and hackers –catastrophic events (with off-site copies) data cleaned and enhanced during processing issues resolved early for long-term use, reuse, publication and preservation of data

7. Many options for preserving confidentiality bespoke solution for every collection anonymisation valuable tool, in its place not the only way to assure confidentiality preserve integrity of the data user registration, licence and undertakings options on deposit licence (e.g., embargo, teaching vs. research use)

8. Archive prep–easy when done up front issues of consent and confidentiality allowing archiving should be included in the project plan & addressed before data collection starts longer-term rights management in place and IPR issues considered researchers should not make commitments to informants which preclude archiving their data (only as a last resort)

9. Characteristics of a good ready-to- archive collection accurate data, well organised and labelled files supporting data/documentation prepared to a standard that enables them to be used by a third party –major stages of research recorded –research/measurement instruments documented data that can be stored in user-friendly dissemination formats, but can also be archived in a future-proof preservation format consent, confidentiality & copyright resolved Good research practice=good archival preparation

10. Legal issues in data preparation Duty of confidentiality Law of Defamation Data Protection Act 1998 and EU Directive Copyright Act 1988 Freedom of Information

11. More information http://www.esds.ac.uk/about/ about.asp http://www.esds.ac.uk/aandp/ create/ethical.asp