economic and social data service. esds overview provides access and support for key economic and...
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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
• 2000+ orders for data per year
• 6500+ 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
