Improving the evidence base for international comparative research

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Improving the evidence base for international
comparative research  

• Ekkehard Mochmann
• ISSC Senior Advisor on Social Science Data
• mochmann_at_gesis.org
• Foundation Conference for the
• International Data Forum
• CASS, Beijing
• June 5, 2007

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Topics

• 1. We are not starting from scratch
• 2. European and International Data Services
• 3. Continuous Comparative Data Programmes
• 4. International Training Seminars
• 5. ACCESS to Infrastructures
• 6. RTD Projects
• 7. Development Trends and Needs,
• Points for Action

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Infrastructure building a historical note on
ISSC SCs

• The agenda of the 1960ies and 70ies (Rokkan,
  Miller Scheuch, Szalai)
• promoting and popularizing the idea of
  comparative and cross-
• cultural research
• creating a data base and infrastructure for
  comparative research
• developing and popularizing methods and
  techniques for
• comparative research
• launching data confrontation seminars
• stimulating the use of data from different
  sources such as survey
• research, statistical microdata and
  process-produced data.

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International Federation of Data Organisations
for the Social Sciences (IFDO) www.ifdo.org
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Council of European Social Science Data
Archives (CESSDA) www.cesda.org
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International Data Service (IFDO)
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EDAN East European Data Archive Network

• UNESCO Workshop
• Social Science Data Archives in Eastern Europe
  2002

Creation of EDAN
Networking of East European Data Archive
Initiatives
Improving East West Data Transfer and Data Access
for Social Research in Germany
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EDAN East European Data Archive Network
Participating Archives

• Ungarn TARKI (1985)
• Russland (UdSSR) DB (1985)
• Estland ESSDA (1994)
• Litauen LSZDA (1996)
• Slowenien ADP (1997)
• Tschechien SDA (1998)
• Russland RSDA (2002)
• Rumänien RODA 2001
• Bulgarien SSDA (2003)

Other Participants Initiatives in Slovakia,
Poland, Belaruss, Ukrain, Latvia, Serbia
Ireland, Portugal
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(No Transcript)
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Continuous Comparative Survey Programmes

• Eurobarometer (EB)
• ? AFRO- ASIA- LATINO- Global Barometers
• European Values Study (EVS) - WORLD VALUES
  Study (WVS)
• International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
• United States Investigation Agency (USIA- xx)
  BIG (ESF)
• Luxemburg Income Study (LIS- LES)
• Socio-Economic Panel Studies
• x Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
• X Founding Elections in Eastern Europe
• X ltComparative Manifestoes Projectgt
• International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS)
• European Social Survey (ESS)

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International Seminars and Summer Schools

• Essex Summer School
• ICPSR Summer School
• OSLO Summer School in Comparative Research
• ZA Spring Seminar and
• ZA/ZHSF Autumn Seminar for Historical Research
• Data confrontation seminars
• CESSDA Expert Seminars / IASSIST Workshops

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ACCESS to Research Infrastructures

• Objectives
• Support all Researchers of EU Member States to
  Access Infrastructure Services,
• which offer world class service, essential
  for high level research
• which are unique or rare in Europe and are
  not easy to replicate
• which can support external users
  scientifically, technically and
• logistically
• GESIS-ZA has created ZA-EUROLAB
• Essex University created ECASS
• CEPS/Instead created IRISS

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RTD- Projects

• NESSTAR Networked Services -gt DDI
• MetaDater Meta Data Management and Production
  System for Social Science Surveys (EU-FP5) -gt DDI
• MADIERA Multilingual Access to Data
  Infrastructures
• of the European Research Area (EU-FP5) -gtDDI
• CESSDA Portal
• Perspectives ESFRI Roadmap

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Trends

• Improving and integrating the evidence base
• Facilitating access
• Standards for data definition (DDI / MetaDater)
• Opening multilingual access (Madiera)
• Virtual libraries
• Data literature event knowledge
  integration
• Meaningful contexts and interpretation
  knowledge
• Global data infrastructure Interoperability-
  GRID

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Joint Statement of the Academia Europea and ESF

• The role of computer-based networking has
• grown enormously in the past decade, and has
• transformed the potential for research and
  education.
• This trend is expected to continue in dramatic
  fashion
• Fully collaborative research communities widely
  dispersed
• Wider and more transparent access to data
• New technologies and applications

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Act on

• Internationalisation and regional coverage
• Integrate transdisciplinary- evidence base and
  improve comparability
• Long term preservation- metadata- access
• Transnational funding structures and data policies

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Encouraging perspectives

• ESFRI
• CESSDA EROHS DARIAH ESS - SHARE
• NORFACE
• Transnational Funding
• ISSC Strategic Plan
• IDF
• Global Data Forum 2007

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The impact and the impact factor of the
classic social scientists

• It is also the fact that their intellectual
  problems are
• relevant to the public issues of their times, and
  to the
• private troubles of individual man and women
• People have read ltthe classic social scientistsgt
• not only to become informed. They have read in a
• search for orientation and out of their reading
  they have
• gotten orientation C. W. Mills, 1960 p.4