Access to Economic and Social Data via the UK Data Archive Jack Kneeshaw UKDA

The ESDS new national data archiving and dissemination service, running from 1 Jan jointly supported by: –Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) –Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) initial five year funding commitment

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 Partners

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

Specialist data services ESDS Government ESDS International ESDS Longitudinal ESDS Qualidata Provide - dedicated web sites - data and documentation enhancements - user support - training

The ESDS Data Collection

Collection held at UKDA 5,000+ datasets in the collection 300+ new datasets are added each year 9,000+ orders for data per year 38,000+ datasets distributed worldwide per year history data service in-house (AHDS) access to international data via links with other data archives worldwide

Types of collections Data for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines surveys censuses registers aggregate statistics text (digital) and images

Sources of data official agencies - mainly central government international statistical time series individual academics - research grants market research agencies public records/historical sources

Popular studies Repeated cross-sectional: –General Household Survey –Labour Force Survey –Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland –Expenditure and Food Survey –British Crime Survey –Family Resources Survey Longitudinal/panel/cohort: –British Household Panel Survey –Birth cohort studies (NCDS, BCS70, MCS) –English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Politics datasets - quantitative British Election Studies (inc. BEPS) Welsh Election Surveys Scottish Election Surveys British Social Attitudes Dissension/Free Votes in the House of Commons, Seyd and Whiteley’s Party Membership surveys Comparative Manifestos Project Historical MORI and Gallup poll data

Politics datasets - qualitative Liberal Democrats: Structure, Strategy and Contemporary Party Politics in Britain, Devolution and Decentralisation in Wales and Brittany, Outsiders: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the New Europe, The Power of Law in Municipal Politics, Trade Union Campaigning in the British General Election, 2001

Secondary analysis potential descriptive / background population information comparative research, restudy or follow-up study re-analysis or secondary analysis research design and methodology verification teaching and learning

X4L Project: Survey Data in Teaching: enhancing critical thinking and data numeracy increase the use of real data sources in the classroom improve the data literacy of GCE A level and university students to: –enable a better understanding of the use of social science data as applied to real-life problems –enhance skills in manipulating numerical data in textbooks, newspapers or reports –become critical consumers of this data uses the study of crime in society to show how existing data sources can be utilised project is relevant to a range of social science disciplines: –sociology, politics, psychology and media studies & citizenship studies resources can be used for A level syllabi but are also highly applicable for undergraduate and postgraduate learning x4l.data-archive.ac.uk

International data held at MIMAS Regularly updated macro-economic time series datasets from selected major international statistical databanks that collectively chart over 50 years of global economic, industrial and political change: International Monetary Fund OECD United Nations World Bank Eurostat International Labour Organisation

Accessing Data: The Role of the UK Data Archive

Access Web access to data and metadata Data are freely available for the majority of our users Data supplied in a variety of formats –statistical package formats (eg spss) –databases and spreadsheets –word processed documents –pdf documents

Online access to datasets Web pages –Online catalogue with variable level searching –Subject browsing and major series –Access to online doc - pdf user guides including questionnaires Registration –One-off registration using Athens authentication –Online account management and “Shopping Basket” ordering Data access –Web Download in 3 software formats - SPSS, STATA and tab-delimited –NESSTAR – online data analysis, visualisation, subsetting and downloading

ESDS specialist data services: UK Data Archive: