Transcript Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)

Economic and Social
Data Service
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 HE and FE sectors
• specialist data services:
– ESDS Management
– ESDS Access and Preservation
– ESDS Government
– ESDS International
– ESDS Longitudinal
– ESDS Qualidata
Funding
• jointly supported by:
– Economic and Social Research Council
(ESRC)
– Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC)
• part of ESRC Research Resources
Strategy (HE remit only)
• five year funding commitment
Partners
• UK Data Archive, Essex
• MIMAS, Manchester
• Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and
Survey Research (CCSR), Manchester
• Institute of Social and Economic
Research (ISER), Essex
UK Data Archive - brief history
• founded by ESRC at Essex University in 1967
as a social science data archive
• collections:
– surveys and censuses
– registers - contemporary and historical
– aggregate statistics
– text - qualitative data
– images - maps and photos
– sound - interviews
Sources of data
• official agencies - mainly central
government
• individual academics - research grants
• market research agencies
• public records/historical sources
• access to international data via links with
other data archives worldwide
UKDA collection
• 4,000+ datasets in the collection
• 250+ new datasets are added each year
• 2000+ orders for data per year
• 6500+ datasets distributed worldwide
per year
• staff of 55
• History Data Service(HDS) in-house
Access to social science and
economic data
• data for research and teaching purposes, used
in all sectors and for many different disciplines
• web access to data and metadata
• data freely available for the majority of users
• data supplied in a variety of formats
– statistical package formats (e.g. SPSS)
– databases and spreadsheets
– word-processed documents
– pdf documents
Economic and Social Data
Service
Description of new
services
ESDS Management
• responsibility of the UK Data Archive
• provides consistency and standards across
the ESDS
• has a broad strategic role relating to a
variety of stakeholders concerned with the
supply, funding and use of social science
data,
• creates a coherent publicity, promotion and
outreach strategy for the whole service
Key deliverables
include:
•
a central help desk service
•
a coherent and flexible collections
development policy
•
a central registration service operating
across the ESDS, using ‘Athens’
•
a universal portal for social science data
resources
ESDS Access and
Preservation
• hosted at the UK Data Archive
• represents the core of the ESDS
• focuses on the central activities of data:
– acquisition
– processing and documentation
– long-term preservation
– dissemination
ESDS Government
• large-scale government surveys, such
as the General Household Survey and
the Labour Force Survey are key data
resources for social science researchers
• led by Centre for Census and Survey
Research (CCSR) at Manchester with
support from UKDA at Essex
Key deliverables I
•
raise awareness of the research
potential of the government datasets
•
enhance user support through a
dedicated help desk, user groups and
FAQs
•
work closely with both producers and
users
Key deliverables II
• run training courses on key topics of
interest, on specific statistical packages,
and on methods of statistical analysis
• provide topic-related online course
materials and a range of teaching datasets
• provide easy routes through the complex
documentation of the government surveys
ESDS International
• led by MIMAS at Manchester and run jointly
with the UKDA at Essex
• provides access and support for a range of
international datasets – both macro and
micro sources
• promotes and facilitates increased and more
effective use of international datasets in
research, learning and teaching across a
range of disciplines
International data portfolio
• built around selected major international
statistical databanks that collectively chart over
50 years of global economic, industrial and
political change
• the data originate from:
– the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
– the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD)
– the UN Industrial Development Organisation
– Eurostat
– the UK Office for National Statistics
Key deliverables I
• develop a responsive acquisitions strategy
that negotiates key international datasets
for UK academic access
• web-based access to regularly updated
macro-economic time series datasets
• help users to locate and acquire
international micro-level datasets, such as
Eurobarometer or ISSP
Key deliverables II
• use CommonGIS software to build an
interactive web-based data exploration and
visualisation interface to key international
statistics
• develop key time series for alternative
classifications of countries, such as highly
indebted countries
• provide specialist support on international
datasets, e.g. introductory and advanced
guides
• run a programme of awareness and training
courses
ESDS Longitudinal
• run jointly by UKDA and ISER at Essex
• provides value-added data enhancements, user
support and training for a range of the most
popular UK based panel and cohort studies:
–
–
–
–
British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)
National Child Development Survey (NCDS)
British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70)
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
Facilitating access to
longitudinal data
• encourage linkage with other datasets not
directly supported by ESDS, e.g. the ONS
Longitudinal Study
• in conjunction with the ESRC National Strategy
Committee identify new longitudinal data
collections:
– English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
– the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children (ALSPAC)
Key deliverables I
• create additional derived variables
• enhance data and documentation standards across
all studies
• improve information on weighting, missing data,
and statistical adjustments
• develop an online system for visualisation of
documentation, subsetting and data matching
• mount online sampler files in Nesstar to facilitate
the exploration of the content of data
• develop ways to make use of confidential data,
especially geo-coded data, without prejudicing the
confidentiality of those respondents
Key deliverables II
• provide user support via a mailing list and a
help desk that links up with specialist user
support provided by ISER and the Centre for
Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the Institute of
Education (IoE)
• host meetings and workshops for both novice
and more advanced users
• run a training programme in conjunction with
other existing training providers
• develop a searchable directory of researchers'
interests
• maintain a catalogue providing details of other
longitudinal data collections
ESDS Qualidata
• provides access and support for a range of
qualitative datasets, and is hosted by the
UK Data Archive
• the work builds on Qualidata's expertise
and international reputation in this area,
developed over the past eight years
Types of qualitative data
• in-depth or semi-structured interviews
• focus groups
• case notes/records of meetings
• diaries and research diaries
• field notes/observations
• personal documents
• photos
Key deliverables
• enhanced user guides and digital samplers
• exemplars and case studies of re-use
• online access to qualitative data
• user support and training activities to
support secondary analysis of qualitative
data
Enhanced user guides and
digital samplers
providing a better understanding of the
study and research methods
• enhanced users guides – detailed notes on
study methodology and re-use; ‘behind the
scenes’ interviews with depositors; FAQs
• thematic pages – combining interviews
• digital samplers of classic sociology
collections
Exemplars and case
studies of re-use
providing guidance on data resources
and how to re-use them
• overview of ways of re-using data
• case studies of re-use including reflections
and commentary
• full bibliography of re-use articles
• online ‘packaged’ training resources
• user support and training programme
Online access to
qualitative data
• new 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 (Edwardians Online)
• supporting tools for searching, retrieval, and
analysis across different datasets
Working groups and user
forums
• establish working groups to gain input and
feedback on specific ESDS developments
• consult with bodies such as LTSN, RSC
• establish new user forums/networks
• exploit existing user forums (e.g. JIBS)
Phase I user consultation:
research and teaching
series of user surveys to aid:
• development of data enhancements
• data access and delivery services
• planning training programme
• user support strategies
• existing JISC 5/99 work on use of data in
the classroom (HE focus )
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
• build on workshop and existing/contributed
materials
• establish templates; keep simple
• commitment to keep up-to-date
• use relevant T and L standards
• build on existing/forthcoming T and L
projects: TRaMMS; CHCC; X4L; RM
programme
Contact
www.esds.ac.uk
[email protected]
[email protected]