The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)

Karen Dennison

Economic and Social Data ServiceUK Data Archive

Swansea College 27 January 2006

What is the ESDS?• national data archiving and dissemination

service running from 1 Jan. 2003 – 2008

• jointly supported by: – Economic and Social Research Council

(ESRC)

– Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)

• UK Data Archive, Essex

• MIMAS, Manchester

• Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR), Manchester

• Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Essex

Partners

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 UK Higher and Further Education sectors and beyond

ESDS overview

• core archiving service (UKDA) plus four specialist data services

• ESDS Government (CCSR/UKDA)• ESDS International (MIMAS/UKDA)• ESDS Longitudinal (ISER/UKDA)• ESDS Qualidata (UKDA)

• provide:―value-added data and documentation―service-specific web pages and help―support and training ―teaching datasets/online samplers―discussion lists/newsletters―publicity and promotion

UKDA’s role

• overall integration and management of ESDS• acquiring, processing, preserving and

disseminating data• central registration service operating across the

ESDS• central 'first stop' help desk service • cataloguing and describing data• maintaining and developing web sites• publicity and training• user support

Sources / type of dataData for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines

• official agencies - mainly central government

• international statistical time series

• individual academics - research grants

• market research agencies

• public records/historical sources

• qualitative and quantitative

• links to UK census data

• access to international data via links with other data archives worldwide

Collection held at UKDA• 5,000+ datasets in the collection

• 200+ new datasets are added each year

• 18,000+ datasets distributed worldwide per year

• History data service in-house (AHDS)

• Census Registration Service in-house (CRS)

• specialist units for supporting qualitative and

longitudinal data in-house

Access to data

• registration using Athens including agreement to an End User Licence, fine-grained access control

• download service (SPSS, STATA, ASCII, RTF etc)

• request data on CD

• online data analysis, including– Simple data analysis, visualisation, downloading and

subsetting via Nesstar

– ESDS Qualidata online – interview transcripts

– ESDS Government Vital Statistics online

– International macro data via Beyond 20/20 and visualisation interface

– Census data

Access to data

• End User Licence– data can only be used by registered users (some

exceptions relating to teaching)

– to preserve the confidentiality of, and not attempt to identify, individuals, households or organisations in the data

– to use the correct methods of citation and acknowledgement in publications

– to supply the bibliographic details of any published work based on the data collections

– to offer for deposit any new data collections which have been derived from the materials supplied

ESDS Government data• General Household Survey/Continuous Household Survey (NI)• Labour Force Survey/NI LFS• Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland • Family Expenditure Survey/NI FES• British/Scottish Crime Survey• Family Resources Survey • National Food Survey/Expenditure and Food Survey • ONS Omnibus Survey • Survey of English Housing • British Social Attitudes/Scottish Social Attitudes/Young People’s

Social Attitudes/NI Life & Times• National Travel Survey• Time Use Survey• Vital Statistics for England and Wales

Benefits of the large-scale government datasets

• good quality data– produced by experienced research organisations– UK/GB - usually nationally representative with large samples. Interviewers

all over country– good response rates– well documented, NISRA, ONS, UKDA, QB etc.

• continuous data– e.g. Continuous Household Survey 1983, allows comparison over time– data is largely cross-sectional

• hierarchical data– individual and household– intra-household differences– household effects on individuals

ESDS Longitudinal Data • five main studies, that are primarily UK

Research Council:

– British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)– British Birth Cohort studies:

• National Child Development Survey (NCDS)• British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70)• Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)

– English Longitudinal Study of Ageing – possible forthcoming Medical Research

Council population study datasets – 1946 Birth Cohort

Longitudinal data

• longitudinal surveys involve repeated surveys of the same individuals at different points in time

• allow researchers to analyse change at the individual level

• more complex to analyse

British Household Panel Survey • collected and deposited by the ULSC at Essex

• follows the members of 5500 households first sampled in 1991

• interviews conducted annually

• become a major resource for understanding the dynamics of British households

• coverage includes:– income, labour market behaviour, social and political values,

health, education, housing and household organisation

• recently large new samples were introduced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

British Birth Cohort Studies

• impact of childhood conditions on later life and understanding children and families in the UK

• national Child Development Study follows a cohort born in a single week in 1958 - data collected at birth & ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42

• 1970 British Cohort Study follows a cohort born in a single week in 1970 - data collected around birth & ages 5, 10, 16, 26 and most recently at age 30

• Millennium Cohort Study focuses on children born in 2000/ 2001 - first sweep at 9 months, second sweep at 3 years

• wide range of social, economic, health, medical and psychological issues

ESDS International data portfolio

• regularly updated macro-economic time series datasets from selected major international statistical databanks that collectively chart over 50 years of global economic, industrial and political change:

• the International Monetary Fund • the OECD • the United Nations• the World Bank • Eurostat• the International Labour Organisation• the UK Office for National Statistics

access for UK HE/FE only

• access to micro data surveys• Eurobarometers• International Social Survey Programme• other social data via other national data archives

International data themes

• economic performance and development• trade, industry and markets• employment• demography, migration and health• governance• human development • social expenditure• education• science and technology • land use and the environment

Databanks cover:

ESDS Qualidata

• access and support for a range of qualitative datasets, hosted by the UK Data Archive

• data from National Research Council (ESRC) individual and programme research grant awards

• data from ‘classic’ social science studies

• other funders/sources

• focus on DIGITAL Collections, but also facilitate paper-based archiving

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’

Classic datasets• Peter Townsend – Poverty, old age

and Katherine Buildings

• Paul Thompson – oral history and Edwardians

• Ray Pahl –Hertfordshire Villages studies

• National Social Policy and Social Change Archive

Help for users

• help desk and web site• dedicated survey pages• JISCmail list • regularly updated web-based FAQs • programme of training courses and publicity events• news bulletins and articles • resources (links to other sites)• teaching datasets and/or exemplars• enhanced documentation e.g.

• dataset and software guides• statistical guides (SPSS, Stata, weighting)• variables consistent over time on specific surveys

(ESDS Government)• thematic guides

Each specialist service provides:

The Census Registration Service

• the Census Registration Service provides one-stop registration and support for access to:

– Census Dissemination Unit from MIMAS – aggregate tables/Casweb

– Census Geography Data Unit (UKBORDERS) from EDINA – boundaries data

– Census Interaction Data Service (Universities of Leeds and St Andrews) - flow data

– Samples of Anonymised Records from CCSR – micro data

– CHCC - Historical Census Collection from AHDS History

AHDS History• AHDS History is one of the five Subject Centres of the Arts and

Humanities Data Service. ahds.ac.uk

• AHDS History collects, preserves, and promotes the use of digital resources, which result from or support historical research, learning and teaching.

The AHDS History collection• particularly strong in 19th and 20th century economic and

social history• census data (1881 100% sample; 1851 2% sample; lots of

local census returns)• Great Britain Historical Database online• taxation materials• large-scale datasets of Welsh and Irish historical statistics • electoral data (poll books for local areas) • criminal court records (e.g. a collection of datasets on

violent crimes 1600-1900) • agricultural statistics (prices, output) • surveys of Scottish witchcraft• state finance data• economic indicators/industrial production data

Secondary analysis potential

• descriptive material

• comparative research, restudy or follow-up study

• re-analysis/secondary analysis

• research design and methodological advancement

• replication of published statistics

• teaching and learning

Using ESDS data for teaching

• tutor registers with ESDS and downloads data

• registers a usage (for micro data)

• tutor makes data available to students (if online only via secure network)

• tutor asks students to register or sign access agreement for teaching (not always necessary, but to be encouraged)

Data repurposed for teaching - examples

• teaching datasets (available for download and via Nesstar) based on ELSA, NCDS, BHPS, HSE, BCS, LFS, GHS)

• X4L Survey Data in Teaching• CHCC Learning and Teaching Materials

Registration not required -

• Practical Exemplars on the Analysis of Surveys• Understanding Social Statistics• Teaching Resources and Materials for Social Scientists

(TRAMSS)

Repurposing data – issues to consider

• UKDA is guardian for the data/does not own the data• data can usually only be accessed by registered users • most data can be incorporated into teaching packages/courses but

access restricted to the relevant students and not made publicly available e.g. on the web (some exceptions)

• any derived data must be offered for deposit with UKDA• permission of data owners – where data are repurposed and to be

made publicly available, permission of data owners must be sought

• copyright e.g. LFS teaching dataset Crown copyright held jointly with the ESDS

• IPR of authors of repurposed material• information on how to cite and acknowledge data

X4L Survey Data in Teaching: a resource for students and

teachers

Aimed to increase the use of real data in the classroom. A grander mission is to improve the data literacy of A level and university students to:

enable a better understanding of the use of social science data as applied to real-life problems

enhance skills in manipulating numerical data in textbooks, newspapers or reports

become critical consumers of this data

Project rationale• UKDA datasets are used extensively in academic

research

• but underused in T&L programmes within HE, and in further education

• UKDA has the potential to offer its resources to the T&L communities for developing more ‘packaged’ resources BUT needs the advice and input from instructors in the classroom on how to re-purpose and apply the content

• UK skills shortage of quantitative analysts is now critical - introducing concepts early on in post-16 education is one way to redress this shortage

Topics and educational level• X4L SDiT uses the study of crime in society to

show how existing data sources can be utilised• relevant to a range of social science disciplines,

such as sociology, politics, psychology, media studies and citizenship studies.

• research methods in social science— potential of survey data to answer questions— survey measurement; sampling— basic data management/basic data analysis— resource discovery skills

• applicable to ‘A’ level syllabi but also for undergraduate and postgraduate learning

Overview of the learning and teaching materials

• modules on the use of crime data (four modules) using Nesstar online data exploration system resource discovery at the UK Data Archive

• a teaching version of the British Crime Survey dataset available from the UKDA/via Nesstar

• appendix on sampling and statistical inference• glossary of statistical terms• free demonstration version of very simple and user-

friendly data analysis software, which is utilised in the last two of the teaching modules

ContactContact

www.esds.ac.uk

help@esds.ac.uk

ESDS FAQ: www.esds.ac.uk/about/faq.asp