Qualitative Data Resources: Qualidata UKDA Libby Bishop ESDS Qualidata, University of Essex...

Qualitative Data Resources:Qualidata UKDA

Libby Bishop

ESDS Qualidata, University of EssexTimescapes, University of Leeds

St Catherine’s College, Oxford2 July 2008

ESDS Qualidata

• function of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)

• specialist service led by the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex

• acquires, provides access to, and support for, a range of qualitative datasets on a national scale

• responsible for enhancing qualitative data and documentation

• provides information and training resources for re-using qualitative data

UKDA: sources of data

Data for research and teaching, 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

NSPSCA screen shot

Qualitative data resources

• What is in the archive?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?

What is in the archive?

• 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

• multi-media: audio, video, photos and text (most common is interview transcriptions)

• formats: digital, paper, analogue audio-visual

Archiving criteria

• impact of the study e.g., influence in its field or representing the work of a significant researcher

• complementary to existing data holdings

• popularity of the topic (exclusion, criminology)

• consistency with national research strategy (e.g., environment, security, inequality)

• methodological innovation (e.g., mixed methods)

• data with untapped analytic potential

• raw data

Collections – old and new• Inheritance, Property and Family Relationships, 1990-1994 (Finch)

• Framing of Terrorist Threats in United States and Russian Elections, 2003-2004 (Oates)

• Developing Sustainable Technologies for Waste, 2004-2006 (Fredrickson and Slater)

• Collaborative Wildlife Management and Changing Social Contexts in Peru, 2001-2003 (Newing)

• Concepts of Healthy Eating Food Research, 1992-1996 (Caplan) (forthcoming)

• And paper collections currently in process: Bell, Townsend, Pahl, and more

Qualitative data resources

• What is in the archive?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?

UKDA Catalogue screen shot

Qualitative data resources

• What do we have?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?

Qualitative data resources

• What do we have?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?

Ethical and consent considerations

• questions of confidentiality and agreements made at the time of fieldwork

• archived data should always conform to ethical and legal guidelines with respect to the preservation of anonymity when this has been requested by informants or guaranteed to them

• achieve this by various strategies– consent for archiving– controlling access (e.g., legal undertakings to protect

confidentiality, licences, vetting)– editing the original data

Timescapes is about… Doing Research:• Personal relationships, intimacy and family life• ≈£5 million, 5 years, 7 projects, 5 universities

Building a data archive:• Qualitative – text, image, audio, and video• Longitudinal• 400+ participants, 5+ years with multiple interactions• 5000+ objects• Over half a terabyte of data

Web pages

www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/

http://www.timescapes.leeds.ac.uk/