ESDS Support and resources Beate Lichtwardt, ESDSUKDA British Library Conference Centre, London 9 Ma

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ESDS -Support and resources Beate Lichtwardt,
ESDS/UKDABritish Library Conference Centre,
London9 March 2009
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Roadmap

• Overview Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)
  
• ESDS holdings
• ESDS user support and resources - Four
  specialist data services - Data Catalogue search
  (basic, advanced) - NESSTAR (browsing and
  analysing data online) - Workshops and training
  - Contact

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Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)

• www.esds.ac.uk
• National data archiving and dissemination service
  
• Running from 1 January 2003
• Jointly supported by
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
• Partners
• UK Data Archive (UKDA), Essex
• Manchester Information and Associated Services
  (MIMAS), Manchester
• Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey
  Research (CCSR), Manchester
• Institute for Social and Economic Research
  (ISER), Essex

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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 UK Higher and Further
  Education sectors
• Core archiving services plus four specialist data
  services
• Built on a foundation of the UK Data Archive,
  which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary

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ESDS holdings

• Data for research and teaching purposes and used
  in all sectors and for many different disciplines
• Official agencies - mainly central government
• Individual academics - research grants
• Market research agencies
• Public records/historical sources
• Links to UK census data
• Qualitative and quantitative
• International statistical time series
• History data service in-house (HDS)
• Access to international data via links with other
  data archives worldwide (ICPSR, ZA)

• 5,000 datasets in the collection
• 280 new datasets are added each year
• 46,000 registered users
• 3,000 user support queries
• 60,000 downloads worldwide p.a.

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Links with other data archives - Europe
CESSDA - Council of European Social Science
Data Archives (non- European mainly ICPSR)
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ESDS holdings

• ESDS GovernmentLarge-scale government surveys,
  such as the Labour Force Survey, General
  Household Survey and Annual Population Survey
• ESDS InternationalMulti-nation aggregate
  databanks, such as World Bank data, and survey
  data, such as the Eurobarometers and the World
  Value Surveys
• ESDS LongitudinalMajor UK surveys following
  individuals over time, such as the British
  Household Panel Survey and the National Child
  Development Study
• ESDS QualidataRange of multimedia qualitative
  data sources (in-depth and semi-structured
  interviews, focus groups, oral histories, mixed
  methods data, records of meetings, diaries etc.),
  including the Edwardians and 100 Families

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ESDS - user support and resources

• ESDS provides
• Advice for new users (finding, accessing and
  using data)
• Help Desk (email help_at_esds.ac.uk)
• Information on training Training via
  promotional events/workshops
• Online user guides
• JISCmail lists (forthcoming events, data releases
  and new developments)
• Access to Social Science Data Resources (SSDR)
  site representatives in local institutions
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Specialist data services own support pages

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ESDS Specialist data services

• Specialist data services
• ESDS Government
• ESDS International
• ESDS Longitudinal
• ESDS Qualidata

• Dedicated web sites
• Data and documentation enhancements
• Tailored user support
• Information on training and events

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ESDS Government

• Guides, e.g. analysis guides, thematic guides
• List of government teaching datasets
• Publications database
• Mapping tool for ONS Vital Statistics (CommonGIS)
• Search for variables across datasets
• List of variables that are consistent over time
  for specific surveys
• Survey pages for each dataset provides the
  following links for each questionnaires,
  starting analysis, citing this data, variable
  search (for selected series), FAQ
• Recent data releases
• Recent publications

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ESDS Longitudinal Data

• Step-by-step guides to each dataset
• Teaching guides, e.g. BHPS guide using Nesstar
• Database of comparable indicators
• Links to other longitudinal data resources, e.g.
  Keeping track a guide to longitudinal
  resources
• Workshops, e.g. Introductory workshop to
  Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) 24 March

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ESDS International data

• Dataset user guides
• Software guides, e.g. Beyond 20/20 the online
  tool used for many international datasets
• Case studies
• Learning teaching resources, e.g. Countries
  citizens Linking macro micro data
• Directory of international data resources

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ESDS Qualidata

• Dataset user guides
• Thematic resources Criminology, Health studies,
  Oral history
• Re-use publications
• Case studies of re-use
• Teaching guide on interview styles
• Frequently Asked Questions

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Online guides

• Available for
• Analysis methods (including SPSS, STATA,
  Weighting)
• Specific datasets
• Creators and depositors
• Learning and teaching
• Online data services
• Preservation and technical
• Themes (e.g. health)

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Data Catalogue search
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Data Catalogue search
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Data Catalogue search options
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NESSTAR

• Online data browsing and analysis system
• Allows users to search for, locate, browse and
  analyse and download a wide variety of
  statistical data within a web browser
• UK Data Archive, as service provider for ESDS,
  hosts a NESSTAR server populated by its most
  popular data series
• Registering with ESDS required, if exploratory
  analysis beyond browsing metadata is intended

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ESDS NESSTAR catalogue
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NESSTAR

• Browse detailed information (metadata) about
  these data sources, including links to other
  sources
• Do simple data analysis and visualisation on
  microdata
• Bookmark analysis
• Download the appropriate subset of data in one of
  a number of formats (e.g. SPSS, Excel)

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ESDS NESSTAR catalogue
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NESSTAR - links

• Introductory guide to using NESSTARhttp//www.es
  ds.ac.uk/support/guides/A2.pdf
• ESDS NESSTAR Cataloguehttp//nesstar.esds.ac.uk/
  webview/index.jsp
• NESSTAR guidehttp//nesstar.esds.ac.uk/webview/he
  lp/index.html

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Workshops training

• 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
• Online training materials
• We are pro-active and re-active, so ask us, if
  you want to have a workshop!

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ESDS support summary

• Encourage researchers to consult existing data
  sources use of real data in teaching and
  learning
• Make obtaining data more straightforward
• Promotion exploit existing and new networks
• Provide online resources
• Provide user support and training
• What else can we provide?

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Contact

• www.esds.ac.uk
• help_at_esds.ac.uk