Atle Alvheim

1
Assessing the feasibility of micro-data access

• Atle Alvheim

Assistant Director Norwegian Social Science Data
Services
Luxembourg 26 - 27 October 2006
2
Norwegian Social Science Data Services
(NSD)www.nsd.uib.nonsd_at_nsd.uib.no
3
There is a lack of Tools for thought
4
Situation to-day
Situation tomorrow?

• Only a fraction of data resources available on
  line
• Lack of standardization
• Poor integration between data and metadata
• Institutional, legal, and commercial obstacles

• All empirical data available on-line
• An integrated gateway to be used to integrate and
  locate relevant resources
• The ability to browse, visualize, and analyze
  data on-line
• Hyperlinks from data to relevant scientific
  publications and resources
• Empirical feedback system to build the collective
  memory of a data collection

5
What are we looking for?
Data
Metadata
Tools
6
Why are metadata important?
7
The functions of metadata
Finding
Assessing
Understanding
8
Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)
An international XML-based standard for the
content, presentation, transport, and
preservation of documentation

• Benefits of the DDI Approach
• Interoperability
• Richer content
• Single document - multiple purposes
• On-line subsetting and analysis
• Precision in searching

Codebooks can be exchanged and transported
seamlessly, and applications can be written to
work with these homogeneous documents.
Providing the data analyst with broader knowledge
about a given collection.
The codebook contains all of the information
necessary to produce several different types of
output.
DDI documents are easily imported into on-line
analysis systems, rendering datasets more readily
usable for a wider audience.
Field-specific searches across documents and
studies are enabled.
9
A life-cycle model of data
Data Archiving
Study Concept
Data Collection
Data Processing
Data Distribution
DataDiscovery
DataAnalysis
Repurposing
Combined life cycle model
10
A common European data portal

• Metadata is all about communication
• Madiera A set of tools, an idea
• Data is a kernel that facilitates a discussion
  
• Maybe future libraries consist of datasets with
  linked or derived knowledge-products, books,
  papers, tables, etc, wikis
• Could we imagine libraries of hypoteses ?
• Libraries of questions and discussions more than
  of answers ?

11
What was the specified MADIERA Objectives ?

• The development of an integrated and effective
  distributed social science portal to facilitate
  access to a range of data archives and disparate
  resources. WP3
• The development of specific add-ons to existing
  virtual data library technologies, in particular
  data location technology WP4
• The employment of a multi-lingual thesaurus to
  break the language barriers to the discovery of
  key resources. WP5
• An extensive programme to add content, both at
  the data/information and knowledge levels. WP6
• Extensive training of data providers and users to
  encourage the continuos growth of the
  infrastructure WP7

12
A Web of the Social Sciences

• Building on a distributed model where data and
  resources are stored and maintained locally
• For the end user the system will appear as a
  integrated system
• A virtual data library offering global access to
  locally supported data holdings

13
What is then necessary to develop useful
procedures ?

• Metadata standards lift data from digits to
  research information
• Technical solutions, software Information- and
  access systems, in addition to analysis and
  download possibilities
• Political agreements, conditions for data access
• Economic agreements, logging, audits

14
EXAMPLE A common resource
European Social Survey (ESS) europeansocialsurvey
.org ess.nsd.uib.no An academically driven
social survey designed to chart and explain the
interaction between Europe's changing
institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and
behaviour patterns of its diverse populations.

15
ANOTHER EXAMPLE Aggregate data

• The determinants of active civic participation
• at European and national level (CIVICACTIVE)
• nsd.uib.no/civicactive

16
A third example a common entry-point
madiera.net The MADIERA project has developed an
effective infrastructure for the European social
science community by integrating data with other
tools, resources and products of the research
process.
17
A scheme
18
A Data-archive Political Context for 20
national archives

• It might be money involved
• Is the data a free or commercial good ?
• There are categories of users,
• what about non-academic use, non-CESSDA use ?
• Who are to fix the prices ?
• Varying Access rules. The crossing of national
  borders
• What laws apply. Who set the rules
• Who is responsible ? What sanctions available ?
• There are some Common good data
• Eurobarometers, Value studies, ISSP, ESS,
  Comparative collections
• Could best be provided from one single point (?)
• Charging ? Access Conditions ? Double Storage ?
• It is a good thing to have national archives,
  enhances amount of data available and betters the
  accessibility.
• Need justification and visibility

19
All use the NESSTAR Publisher / DDI
20
ELSST
21
Madiera A common portal for all of Europe,
Portal

• Functionality
• Link many local servers
• Search and browse possibilities
• __________________
• Standardised software and
• standardised documentation
• Translation possibilities
• Politics Coordinated access rules
• Politics
• Money

NSD
FSD
SSD
ZA
DDA
DANS
UKDA