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Economic and Social Data Service
Social Science Data Archives:
creating, depositing and using data
Swansea23 March 2005
John Southall
© Copyright 2005 Universities of Essex and Manchester. All rights reserved
ESDS • national data archiving and dissemination service,
running from 1 Jan. 2003
www.esds.ac.uk
• jointly supported by: – Economic and Social Research Council – Joint Information Systems Committee
• partners:– UK Data Archive (UKDA), Essex – Manchester Information and Associated – Services (MIMAS), Manchester– Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and– Survey Research (CCSR), Manchester – Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER),
Essex
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
• core archiving services plus four specialist data services
ESDS holdings
Data for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines
• official agencies - mainly central government
• 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)
• 5,000+ datasets
in the collection
• 200+ new
datasets are
added each year
• 6,500+ orders for
data per year
• 18,000+ datasets
distributed
worldwide p.a.
ESDS structure
• ESDS Management – central help desk service; coherent and flexible collections
development policy; central registration service; links to other ESRC resources
• ESDS Access and Preservation – collections development strategy; ingest activities -
including data and documentation processing; metadata creation; data dissemination services; long-term preservation
• Specialist data services– ESDS Government– ESDS International– ESDS Longitudinal – ESDS Qualidata
• dedicated web sites• data and
documentation enhancements
• tailored user support• outreach and training
ESDS: Online access to data and user guides
• Web pages and metadata– easy to navigate format– web catalogue with variable level searching– subject browsing and major series – free web access to online study documentation - PDF user
guides
• One-stop registration– one-off registration with user id/password– online account management and ‘Shopping Basket’ ordering– data are freely available for the majority of users– Athens one-stop authentication
• Data download and online data browsing – web download in various software formats - SPSS, STATA, tab-
delimited, Word – Nesstar – online data analysis and visualisation– ESDS International online system– ESDS Qualidata Online browsing system
Search on ‘environment’
200+ datasets
found
The large-scale government surveys
• General Household Survey• Labour Force Survey• Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland • Family Expenditure Survey• British Crime Survey• Family Resources Survey • National Food Survey/Expenditure and Food
Survey • ONS Omnibus Survey • Survey of English Housing • British Social Attitudes• National Travel Survey• Time Use Survey
Benefits of the large-scale government datasets
• good quality data– produced by experienced research organisations– usually nationally representative with large
samples– good response rates– very well documented
• continuous data– allows comparison over time– data is largely cross-sectional
• hierarchical data– individual and household– intra-household differences– household effects on individuals
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1979 1985 1989 1991 1993 1995 1998 2000Percentage of women aged 18-49 cohabiting
General Household Survey
Nesstar software
• browse detailed information (metadata) about these data sources, including links to other sources
• do simple data analysis and visualisation on microdata
• bookmark analyses
• download the appropriate subset of data in one of a number of formats (e.g. SPSS, Excel)
What are longitudinal data?• longitudinal surveys involve repeated surveys of the
same individuals at different points in time
• they have become increasingly important in the social sciences because they allow researchers to analyse change at the individual level
• there are various different types of longitudinal studies including panel and cohort studies
• users of longitudinal data will normally want to combine data collected at different times - data are more complex to use than other types of survey data
• ESDS Longitudinal provides additional value-added services to minimise these complexities
Longitudinal Data
• five main studies, that are primarily UK Research Council:
– British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)– English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) – British Birth Cohort studies:
• National Child Development Survey (NCDS)• British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70)• Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
– also possible forthcoming Medical Research Council population study datasets – 1946 Birth Cohort
British Birth Cohort Studies
National Child Development Study (NCDS)
• cohort born in a single week in 1958
• data collected at birth and ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42
• a unique resource for investigating social mobility and the impact on later life of childhood conditions
• coverage includes a wide range of social, economic, health and psychological issues
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’
Qualitative data collections
• data from National Research Council (ESRC) individual research grant awards
• data from ESRC Programme research grant awards
• data from ‘classic’ social science studies
• other funders/sources
• focus on DIGITAL Collections, but also facilitate paper-based archiving
Classic datasets
• Peter Townsend – poverty, old ageand Katherine Buildings
• Paul Thompson – oral history and Edwardians
• Ray Pahl – Hertfordshire Villages studies
• National Social Policy and Social Change Archive, at Essex
ESDS Qualidata Online
Creation of digital multimedia resources that integrate existing primary and secondary materials:
• catalogues of interview summaries • full electronic interview transcripts • thematic browsing of interview transcripts • collections of digital sound clips • a set of contextual images • background information and press reviews on the
original study • details of publications based upon secondary studies
of the collection • an account of the digitisation methodology
International data themes
Databanks cover:
• 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
International data providers
• the databanks originate from:– International Monetary Fund (IMF)– Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) – United Nations (UN)– World Bank – Eurostat– International Labour Organisation– UK Office for National Statistics
• freely available to UK academics – data licensing costs are paid by ESRC
• datasets delivered over the web via Beyond 20/20• access using Athens username and password
IMF databanks
• International Finance Statistics • Government Finance Statistics• Balance of Payments Statistics• Direction of Trade
The four major databanks produced by the IMF contain data on national accounts, trade, the balance of payments and government spending for around 190 countries. Collectively, they provide a global picture of economic development and international trade over the last 50 years.
Updated Monthly
Fertility Rates in Europe
International survey data
ESDS International at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) can help users to locate and acquire data from other archives within Europe and worldwide, using a series of reciprocal agreements with the individual institutions.
Datasets include:
– Eurobarometer– International Social Survey Programme – World Values Survey
Census Registration Service
The Census Registration Service provides one-stop registration for:
• Census Dissemination Unit from MIMAS (University of Manchester)
• Census Geography Data Unit (UKBORDERS) from EDINA (University of Edinburgh)
• Census Interaction Data Service (Universities of Leeds and St Andrews)
• Samples of Anonymised Records from the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (University of Manchester)
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.
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
• description
• comparative research, restudy or follow-up
study• augment data you collect e.g. expand sample
size
• re-analysis or secondary analysis
• research design and methodological
advancement
• verification
• teaching and learning
ESDS: Facilitating greater usage
• encourage:– researchers to consult existing data sources– use of real data in teaching and learning
• make obtaining data more straightforward
• promotion… exploit existing and new networks
• provide online resources
• provide user support and training
Supporting the user
• individual support, including help desk, mailing list, discussion lists and newsletters
• web-based user guides to the datasets
• teaching datasets, online samplers
• online workbooks, exemplars and FAQs
• workshops and training
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
Teaching materials
• tailor-made datasets
• guides to using data in teaching
• guides to using software and exemplars
X4L project: Survey Data in Teaching: enhancing critical thinking and data numeracy
• uses the study of crime in society to show how existing data sources can be utilised; relevant to a range of social science disciplines
• outputs are a variety of free teaching and learning resources relating to social science and statistics. Materials are based on learning strategies that encourage the teaching of research methods within a substantive context:
• modules available in a variety of formats:– web-based resources hosted at the UK Data Archive web site – printable and reproducible hard copies (MS Word and Adobe PDF) – MS PowerPoint presentations for slides or handouts – a teachers guide to accompany the resources
• teaching and learning modules are designed to be used as part of standard classroom teaching or as additional/self-paced learning activities.
• aims to increase the use of real data sources held within the JISC portfolio of HE/FE research and improve the data literacy of students from age 16 up.
