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ESDS Qualidata: encouraging the growth and use of archived
research
John SouthallESDS Qualidata, University of Essex
Methods@PlymouthPlymouth, April 2007
Qualitative data resources
• What do we have?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?
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-analysing qualitative data
Economic and Social Data Service
• a more integrated national approach to data archiving and dissemination
• provides more seamless and easier access to a range of disparate social science data resources
• dedicated functions:– Management and Co-ordination Function– Core Data Archiving and Preservation
Service– Government Data Service– International Data Service– Qualitative Data Service– Longitudinal Data Service
Re-using data
• Archived qualitative data are a rich and unique, yet too often unexploited, source of research material.
• They offer information that can be re-analysed, reworked, and compared with contemporary data.
• In time, too, archived research materials can prove to be a significant part of our cultural heritage and become resources for historical as well as contemporary research.
UKDA: sources of data
Data 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
Brief background to Qualidata
• project to save ‘endangered’ qualitative social research 1994-
• material identified:– collated and organised– catalogued and described– metadata created– deposited with ‘paper’ archives – collections promoted – user support
Next phase – archiving digital data
• merge with UK Data Archive in 2001
– into an established quantitative digital archive
– moving towards electronic and online dissemination
– small onsite paper archive maintained National Social Policy and Social Change Archive (NSPSCA)
– links with other traditional archives continued
NSPSCA screen shot
Qualitative data resources
• What do we have?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?
• types of data collected vary with the aims of the study and the nature of the sample
• samples are most often small, but may rise to 500 or more informants
• created in a variety of formats: digital, paper (typed and hand-written), audio, video and photographic
• often a diversity of methods and tools rather than a single one are encompassed
• 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
• relative importance or impact of the study eg. had a major influence in its field and/or representing the working life of a significant researcher
• complementary to existing data holdings
• popularity of the study topic (health, criminology, social policy)
• data that have further analytic potential than the original investigation.
• mixed methods data
• Raw data or methodology
Old media• most new collections are born digital
• but much older data in paper format
• will digitise paper:
– scan and OCR samples of key data– scan as image files to enable faster throughput
• may digitise sound from audio tape
• facilitate archiving of larger non-digital collections in traditional other archives across the UK
– but may selectively digitise ‘highlights’
Paper based datasets
• Peter Townsend – poverty, old age
• Paul Thompson – oral history and the Edwardians
• Mildred Blaxter – grandmothers and daughters
• Dennis Marsden – fatherless families
• National Social Policy and Social Change Archive
Contemporary datasets
• Grandparents and Teen Grandchildren: Exploring Intergenerational Relationships, 2003-2004
• A Cross-Generational Investigation of the Making of Heterosexual Relationships, 1912-2003
• Classroom Assistants in Primary Schools: Employment and Deployment, 1999-2001
• Penal Communication, 2001-2002
• Gender Divisions and Gentrification, 1960-1992
• Meeting Basic Needs? Exploring the Survival Strategies of Forced Migrants, 2004
How is research ‘archived’?
• Data are ‘processed’
– error checking/validation of contents– consent and confidentiality agreements met– creation of user guides, listings – Access conditions agreed and applied
• New guide to data processing techniques now online:www.esds.ac.uk/news/newsdetail.asp?id=1699
• digital archives preserve originals
– supply copies– conform to licences and any access
conditions
• access to such archives requires:
– material in good order (processed)– searchable catalogue records– user guides and related documentation– Explored through online search engine
Qualitative data resources
• What do we have?• How can I find it?• How can I access it?• How can I use it?
Searching and browsing
• By:
• free text• investigator• topic• dates of fieldwork and period covered• publications arising• date data released
Qualicat screen shot
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 -• editing the original data • restricting access/vetting• obtaining legal undertakings to protect
respondents’ confidentiality
Teaching and learning• transcripts can provide unique case material for
teaching and learning in both research methods and substantive areas across a range of social science disciplines
• designing a new study or developing a methodology or research tool by studying sampling methods, data collection and fieldwork strategies and topic guides
• ESDS Qualidata can advise teachers and students on many aspects of using data resources in lectures and for self-study
– providing a number of teaching datasets and associated learning materials
– training workshops and online materials
Finally… some recent innovations
• enhanced collections
– longer period of processing– more contextual material– new documentation on methods– SN 5457 - Education and the Working Class,
1946-1960 www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/news/newsdetail.asp?
id=1685
• subject specific user guides
• ESDS Qualidata – Online data browsing system
Online access to qualitative data
• 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 (ESDS Qualidata Online)
• supporting tools for searching, retrieval, and analysis across different datasets
