Discover

Humanities and Social Science Electronic Thesaurus - HASSET

Faceted search

HASSET is the subject thesaurus that the UK Data Service uses to index and search its data collection.

Originally based on the UNESCO Thesaurus (ISBN: 92-3-101469-2), it has been developed by the UK Data Archive over more than 20 years.

HASSET terms reflect the contents of data collections curated by the UK Data Service. It can be used to retrieve studies and the key variables of large-scale government surveys, international macrodata, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data from 1971 to 2011 held within the UK Data Service catalogue.

Search in UK Data Service Discover

Discover our data types by method:• survey microdata

• business surveys• cross-national surveys• cohort and longitudinal studies• UK surveys

• census data• aggregate• boundary• flow• microdata

• international macrodata• qualitative and mixed method

Discover is the UK Data Service's search and browse interface.

It allows you to find and retrieve information about: the UK Data Service’s data collections; case studies which show how some of these data collections have been used; support guides describing how some of the data collections may be used; and publications and outputs associated with them. Each data collection record provides a link to a login prompt, from where you may gain access to the data themselves or to more information about them. Each case study or support guide record provides a link to the full text/video of that record.

Each publication/output record provides a link to more information about the item.

Discover has several filters on the left-hand side, allowing you to browse through our resources. Clicking on the +/- signs next to each filter will show the filter options available. Once you have made your filter selections, click on ‘Refine’ to retrieve results.

When browsing through two or more resource types, you also may limit your results by date and subject.

To browse within one resource type only, choose the one you would like and click on ‘Refine’. Further filters, in addition to subject and date, will appear; these filters will depend on the resource type you have chosen.

Discover over:• 170 how to/support guides• 180 case studies• 6,000 data collections• 13,000 ESRC outputs• 450,000 variables

Discover our data types by purpose:• research• teaching• samplers

and by detail• variables and questions

For data collections, additional filters are:• data type• key data (showing the major, or key, data collections we hold)• country (to which the data refer)• kind of data• spatial unit• analysis unit• access (showing access conditions)• teaching data

For case studies, additional filters are:• course level (within which the data have been used)• course type (for which the data have been used)• case study type (research or teaching)• data type (relating to the data to which the case study refers)

For support/how to guides, the additional filter is:• type of guide

For publications and outputs, additional filters are:• source (showing the originating repository where the metadata

were recorded)• author• type of output

The multilingual thesaurus ELSST, which is used to search the CESSDA data catalogue, is based on HASSET, and incorporates a selection of its concepts. The concepts that are shared between the two thesauri are indicated by the qualifier (core). Funding from the CESSDA-ELSST project has enhanced the development of HASSET.

HASSET term labels and thesaurus revisions aim to keep abreast with social science and humanities literature. HASSET terms also reflect the need for new concepts to index data in other CESSDA archives and the thesaurus aims to include terms suggested by data users.

Born digital research data: Managing and presenting metadata

ukdataservice.ac.uk

Cite the data

Data are a vital part of the scientific research process and proper citation should be a significant feature of research publications.

Data citation:• acknowledges the author's sources• makes identifying data easier• promotes the reproduction of research results• makes it easier to find data• allows the impact of data to be tracked• provides a structure which recognises and can reward data creators

Any publication, whether printed, electronic or broadcast, based wholly or in part on the data collections provided by the UK Data Service must be accompanied by the correct citation and acknowledgement information. In addition, ESRC award holders are expected to cite their data to encourage and facilitate data sharing under the terms of the ESRC Research Data Policy.

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is included in the citation. This ensures that even if the location of the data changes, the DOI will always link to the data that were used. Each dataset used must have a separate citation.

Discover catalogue record

Behind every catalogue record is the DDI metadata

Each data collection and all the census data within Discover are described by a structured catalogue record that contains a number of pre-defined elements, such as Title and Abstract. These elements are based on the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) version 2.1, an XML-defined international standard for describing social science data.

Mandatory elements should always be present in each record, with the exception of some older data collections. Some elements consist of a free-text entry (e.g. the abstract and main topics). Others draw on controlled vocabularies (e.g. sampling procedures or keywords). Controlled vocabularies are lists of standardised terminology. They provide efficiency and consistency in both creating and retrieving information.

Catalogue records are linked to related:• studies• case studies• support guides

They are linked by:• subject• Study Number

QualiBank

Variable and question bank

Download data and explore them online

Much of our data can be downloaded direct from the website once access conditions have been met.

Metadata can be harvested for data sharing through the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

Some of our data collections can also be explored online using, among others:

• Nesstar• UKDS.Stat• InFuse• Wicid

UK Data Service Variable and question bank contains over 450,000 variables, with over 250,000 containing question text/responses.

It allows you to find and retrieve information about variables and questions from a range of survey datasets held by the UK Data Service. Where a survey question belongs to a group – say, a set of harmonised questions or a survey instrument – the variable concerned is flagged.

Coverage extends across most of the recent, major UK surveys and longitudinal studies but not all studies covered in the Discover data catalogue have had their variables added to this search.

QualiBank is the UK Data Service's search and browse interface for qualitative data objects. It allows you to find and retrieve extracts of textual data, audio files and images from a selection of qualitative data collections. A persistent citation can be made for selected extracts of data, such as an interview extract.

The system allows searching the content of text files, such as interviews, essays, open-ended questions and reports. It also allows searching of metadata attached to these objects, such as a description of a photo or of an audio recording.

UKAD Forum 2015: Born Digital Realities Thursday 19 March 2015The National Archives, Kew

Anne EtheridgeDiscovery Metadata ManagerUK Data Service

Exploring an unrestricted access research dataset using Nesstar