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ESDS Qualidata: Establishing and sustaining qualitative data archiving
Libby BishopESDS Qualidata, University of Essex
National University of Ireland-MaynoothMaynooth 4 March 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-analysing qualitative data
Re-using data
• Archived qualitative data are a rich, yet 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
• merged with UK Data Archive (est. 1968) 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
• ESDS funded in 2002
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
• relative importance or impact of the study e.g., influence in its field 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
Archiving, cont.
• 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 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• 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
Lessons from Qualidata’s experience
• Technical change is hard, cultural change is harder still
• Re-use, re-use, re-use• User-centred development
– From consent forms…– To the classroom
Be patience but persistent
The Timescapes Data BankLibby Bishop
National University of Ireland
Maynooth, 4 March 2008
Timescapes is about… • Personal Relationships and Identities• Family life, friendship• Intimacy, care and support Rationale:• Changing patterns of family life and personal
relationships • Enduring emotional significance of family life and
personal relationships
Time a multi dimensional concept
Methodological: combining time and texture in a qualitative longitudinal study
Conceptual: exploring three timescapes: biographical time; generational time, historical
time
Timescapes is about …
Scaling up QLL Enquiry through Timescapes
• Breadth of the study – across linked projects
• Longitudinal reach - accruing value through time
• Creating a specialist archive of Timescapes data, a devolved, thematic dataset linked to the ‘live’ study
• Building a community of users for an enduring, expanding resource based on principles of data sharing
• Longitudinal, multi-media, thematic data• Designing for reuse by engaging
researchers from the start– Expert descriptions of deposited data– Primary/secondary researcher collaborations
• University of Leeds and UK Data Archive collaboration– efficient and embedded
The Timescapes Archive: Desirable and Shareable
Timescapes
Affiliates and Associates
Authorised Users
Public
Multimediadata andmetadatacreated(SIP*)
Data, metadata, contextual info available to search(DIP*)
2.Standards-compliant data prepared for preservation
Timescapes data preserved (AIP*)
Virtual catalogue record-pointer to resources held at UoL
Information and Data Flows among Researchers, the Timescapes Repository, and the UK Data Archive
Timescapes Repository Disaggregated preservation service
*SIP-Submission Information Package*AIP-Archival Information Package*DIP-Dissemination Information Package
Rights and data management, metadata standards
Strands ResearchProjects
Data producers and users
Data users
Data
Information
Rights and data manage-ment, metadata standards
Timescapes
Affiliates and Associates
Authorised Users
Public
Multimediadata andmetadatacreated(SIP*)
Data, metadata, contextual info available to search(DIP*)
2.Standards-compliant data prepared for preservation
Timescapes data preserved (AIP*)
Virtual catalogue record-pointer to resources held at UoL
Information and Data Flows among Researchers, the Timescapes Repository, and the UK Data Archive
Timescapes Repository Disaggregated preservation service
*SIP-Submission Information Package*AIP-Archival Information Package*DIP-Dissemination Information Package
Rights and data management, metadata standards
Strands ResearchProjects
Data producers and users
Data users
Data
Information
Rights and data manage-ment, metadata standards
