Economic and Social Data Service

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Economic and Social Data Service
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Economic and Social Data ServiceDescription of
new services
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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
•  

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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 )

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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

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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

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• Contact
• www.esds.ac.uk
• acquisitions_at_esds.ac.uk
• help_at_esds.ac.uk