1. Recent and forthcoming resources for cross-national survey research: CESSDA PPP WP9 and ESDS International Jack Kneeshaw Economic and Social Data Service University of Essex, 27 January 2009

2. A brief tour of existing ESDS resources on harmonisation/equivalence Focus of this presentation is on cross-national research resources but note ESDS-produced resources for UK data: http://www.esds.ac.uk/government/dv/ http://www.esds.ac.uk/government/themes/ http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/support/resources.asp See also ONS - http://www.ons.gov.uk/about- statistics/harmonisation/index.html

3. Cross-national equivalence (1): The issue The issue: –e.g. ESS –e.g. Barometers, ISSP –e.g. Eurostat, CNEF, SHARE Ex ante- Ex post- ******************************* Problems for both approaches: –concept, language, response (bias) Problems mainly for ex-post: –instrument (question), method (universe, sample, mode, fieldwork) Problems making comparisons

4. Cross-national equivalence (2): Whats already out there Resources –http://www.esds.ac.uk/International/resources/research.asp –Centre for Comparative European Survey Data (CCESD) –Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) –European Socio-economic Classification (ESeC) –European Data Center for Work and Welfare (EDACwowe) –European Panel Analysis Group (EPAG) –Eurostats RAMON –Harry Ganzebooms International Stratification and Mobility File (ISMF) –International Household Survey Network (IHSN) –Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) International –Network of Economic and Social Science Infrastructures in Europe (NESSIE)

5. Cross-national equivalence (3): CESSDA PPP WP9 What is CESSDA? - umbrella organisation for European social science data archives What is the PPP? - Preparatory Phase Project is a major new award totalling 2.7 million euros aimed at developing the CESSDA research infrastructure. Project consists of several interlinked yet individually-focused work packages, including WP9 … What is WP9? - Building an Infrastructure for Content Harmonisation and Conversion –http://www.cessda.org/project/doc/wp09_descr2.pdf –http://www.cessda.org/project/outputs/wp09workshop1/index.ht ml

6. CESSDA PPP WP9 … continued … An impressive number of recent and continuing harmonisation efforts relating to aspects of social structure underline the high demand for harmonised data in the research community, … What this series of independent efforts is mostly lacking, however, is a perspective to preserve and maintain the results over a time span that is much longer than the respective projects duration. … … the key purpose of the present work package is to develop strategic options and future directions for preparing … CESSDA … to become a central focus for the collection, preservation, distribution, and further enrichment of such information, including the generation of additional harmonised datasets and tools for their discovery. … Extending the range of such harmonised data via the new infrastructure will in particular foster contributions from individual researchers without special funding for harmonisation efforts. http://www.cessda.org/project/doc/wp09_descr2.pdf

7. CESSDA PPP WP9 … continued … Twin deliverables – –(1) CCCDB – Constructs, Classifications, Conversion DataBase –(2) QDB – Question DataBase CCCDB a central warehouse of standards and classifications but also allow for input-output operations allowing for translation across country-specific and time-specific classifications QDB – same principles as CCCDB but places survey question (e.g. questions on happiness) in methodological context CCCDB and QDB to interface with each other

8. CESSDA PPP WP9 … continued … PPP to be followed by implementation phase …

9. Cross-national equivalence (4): Undertaking Cross-national Research (ESDS International) Small proof-of-concept project running parallel to CESSDA PPP WP9 but delivering sooner – hopefully (1) Whats been asked on … e.g., TRUST? –produce inventory across main surveys for questions on trust –e.g., (2) How do the questions/methods/contexts differ? –ISSP, WVS, NDB, GSS …

10. Undertaking cross-national research … continued … Various caveats: –no funding; no commitment; just thinking aloud –reliant on feedback from methods experts –trial basis to estimate demand –be clear what cant be done

11. Undertaking cross-national research … continued … (2) How do the questions, methods, contexts differ? Produce (multi-purpose) contextual metadata (paradata) file –at survey level (i.e., ISSP-1996-GB) – vars to include universe, samp method, samp size, response, mode, translation detail, fieldwork dates, topic coverage – this is where harmonisation occurs and where expert feedback required –whats out-of-scope: inter alia, events, question position and

12. Undertaking Cross-national Research (ESDS International) … continued … Allows for a file to be constructed for a particular version of the trust question that includes many of the vars required for interpreting responses in their methodological context, e.g.: CaseCountry Trust varMore varsContext/paradata variables matched in ISSP1998 1TRUST01>>> ISSP1998 2TRUST01 >>> user pools cross-sections … ESS20021TRUST01>>> ESS20022TRUST01>>> Key: Taken from original file; matched in using context/paradata file

13. In short Many resources exist already, almost certainly underutilised Resources being developed –CESSDA PPP WP9 –ESDS International Please get in touch, offer comment!

14. Contact www.esds.ac.uk help@esds.ac.uk