Session

1. ESDS: Using and archiving research data Louise CortiAssociate DirectorUK Data ArchiveUniversity of Glamorgan8 September 2008

2. Session • About ESDS • How can data be used? • Finding, accessing and citing ESDS data • Accessing survey data online • Accessing qualitative data online • Creating data for sharing • Hands On activities • Finding and accessing data and user documentation at UKDA • Exploring data online • BHPS Smoking using Nesstar • Edwardians transcripts using Qualidata Online • Looking at consent forms • Access Username: crsworkshop • Password: sept08

3. ESDS • national data archiving and dissemination service, running from 1 Jan. 2003 www.esds.ac.uk • jointly supported by: • Economic and Social Research Council • Joint Information Systems Committee • partners: • 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

4. ESDS holdings • 5,000+datasets in the collection • 250+new datasets are added each year • 6,500+orders for data per year • 60,000+datasets distributed worldwide p.a. 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 • access to international data via • links with other data archives worldwide • history data service in-house (HDS)

5. ESDS structure • ESDS Management • central help desk service; coherent and flexible collections development policy; central registration service; links to other ESRC resources • ESDS Access and Preservation • collections development strategy; ingest activities - including data and documentation processing; metadata creation; data dissemination services; long-term preservation • Specialist data services • ESDS Government • ESDS International • ESDS Longitudinal • ESDS Qualidata • dedicated web sites • data and documentation enhancements • tailored user support • outreach and training

6. Kinds of data ESDS deal with • quantitative • micro data are the coded numerical responses to surveys with a separate record for each individual respondent • macro data are aggregate figures, for example country-level economic indicators • data formats include SPSS, Stata and tab delimited formats • qualitative • data include in-depth interviews, diaries, anthropological field notes and the complete answers to survey questions • data formats include Excel, Word and RTF • multimedia • a small number of datasets may include image files, such as photographs, and audio files • non-digital material • paper media could include photographs, reports, questionnaires and transcriptions • analogue audio or audio-visual recordings

7. ESDS Government data • General Household Survey • Continuous Household Survey (NI) • Labour Force Survey/NI LFS • Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland • Family Expenditure Survey/NI FES • British/Scottish Crime Survey • Family Resources Survey • Expenditure and Food Survey • ONS Omnibus Survey Percentage of women aged 18-49 cohabiting General Household Survey • Survey of English Housing • British Social Attitudes/Scottish Social Attitudes/Young People’s Social Attitudes/NI Life & Times • National Travel Survey • Time Use Survey • Vital Statistics for England and Wales

8. ESDS Longitudinal Data • main studies that are primarily UK Research Council: • British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) • British Birth Cohort studies: • National Child Development Survey (NCDS) • British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70) • Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) • English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) • Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) • possible forthcoming Medical Research Council population study datasets – 1946 Birth Cohort

9. British Birth Cohort Studies • impact of childhood conditions on later life and understanding children and families in the UK • national Child Development Study follows a cohort born in a single week in 1958 - data collected at birth & ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42 (7 Up TV series) • 1970 British Cohort Study follows a cohort born in a single week in 1970 - data collected around birth & ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 29 and most recently at age 34 • Millennium Cohort Study focuses on children born in 2000/ 2001 - first sweep at 9 months, second sweep at 3 years • wide range of social, economic, health, medical and psychological issues

10. Longitudinal data • longitudinal surveys involve repeated surveys of the same individuals at different points in time • allow researchers to analyse change at the individual level • more complex to analyse

11. ESDS International data portfolio • 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: • the International Monetary Fund • the OECD • the United Nations • the World Bank • Eurostat • the International Labour Organisation • the UK Office for National Statistics • access to micro data surveys • Eurobarometers, Latinobarometers • International Social Survey Programme • other social data via other national data archives • access for UK HE/FE only

12. International data themes Databanks cover: • economic performance and development • trade, industry and markets • employment • demography, migration and health • governance • human development • social expenditure • education • science and technology • land use and the environment

14. Internationalsurvey data • ESDS International at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) can help users to locate and acquire data from other archives within Europe and worldwide, using a series of reciprocal agreements with the individual institutions. • Datasets include: • Eurobarometer • International Social Survey Programme • World Values Survey

16. ESDS Qualidata • diverse data types: in-depth interviews ; semi-structured interviews; focus groups; oral histories; mixed methods data; open-ended survey questions; case notes/records of meetings; diaries/ research diaries • data from National Research Council (ESRC) individual and programme research grant awards • data from ‘classic’ social science studies • other funders/sources

17. Classic sociology datasets • Peter Townsend – Poverty, old ageand Katherine Buildings • Paul Thompson – oral history and Edwardians • Mildred Blaxter’s ‘Mothers and Daughters’ • Ray Pahl –Hertfordshire Villages studies • National Social Policy and Social Change Archive

18. Finding data • Catalogue of holdings • Describes study, methods and data collection • Records all study related publications • Lists variables for SPSS datasets • Can download user guide free • Link to web download of dataset

25. Accessing data DOWNLOAD TO LOCAL MACHINE • You first need to register using Athens or UK Federation. • You agree to an End User Licence • You specify a project for which youd like to use data • You download data selecting your desired format (SPSS, STATA, ASCII, RTF etc) • You get an idea of file size

28. Accessing data online • online data analysis, including • Simple data analysis, visualisation, downloading and subsetting via Nesstar • ESDS Qualidata Online – interview transcripts • ESDS Government Vital Statistics online • International macro data via Beyond 20/20 and visualisation interface • Census data

33. Cross-tab

34. Instantly chart it

36. ESDS Qualidata Online Creation of digital multimedia resources that integrate existing primary and secondary materials: • catalogues of interview summaries • full electronic interview transcripts • thematic browsing of interview transcripts • collections of digital sound clips • contextual photos • background information and press reviews on the original studies • details of publications based upon secondary studies of the collections

40. Help for users Each specialist service provides: • help desk and web site • dedicated survey pages • JISCmail list • regularly updated web-based FAQs • programme of training courses and publicity events • news bulletins and articles • resources (links to other sites) • teaching datasets and/or exemplars • enhanced documentation e.g. • dataset and software guides • statistical guides (SPSS, Stata, weighting) • Variables consistent over time on specific surveys (ESDS Government) • Thematic guides

41. The Census Portal • the Census Portal provides one-stop registration and support for access to: • Census Dissemination Unit from MIMAS – aggregate tables/Casweb • Census Geography Data Unit (UKBORDERS) from EDINA – boundaries data • Census Interaction Data Service (Universities of Leeds and St Andrews) - flow data • Samples of Anonymised Records from CCSR – micro data • CHCC - Historical Census Collection from AHDS History

42. History Data Service • particularly strong in 19th and 20th century economic and social history • census data (1881 100% sample; 1851 2% sample; lots of local census returns) • Great Britain Historical Database online • taxation materials • large-scale datasets of Welsh and Irish historical statistics • electoral data (poll books for local areas) • criminal court records (e.g. a collection of datasets on violent crimes 1600-1900) • agricultural statistics (prices, output) • surveys of Scottish witchcraft • state finance data • economic indicators/industrial production data

43. Secondary analysis potential • descriptive material • comparative research, restudy or follow-up study • re-analysis/secondary analysis • research design and methodological advancement • replication of published statistics • teaching and learning

44. Secondary analysis potential • description • comparative research, restudy or follow-up study • augment data you collect e.g. expand sample size • re-analysis or secondary analysis • verification • research design and methodological advancement • teaching and learning

45. Re-using qualitative data • Archived qualitative data are a rich and unique, yet too often unexploited, source of research material. • They offer information that can be re-analysed, reworked, and compared with contemporary data. • In time, too, archived research materials can prove to be a significant part of our cultural heritage and become resources for historical as well as contemporary research. • What then are the methodological, ethical and theoretical considerations relating to the secondary analysis of qualitative data?

46. Culture of re-use • well-established tradition in social science of reanalysing quantitative data • no logical intellectual reason why this should not be so for qualitative data • however, among qualitative researchers no similar research culture • lack of discussion of the issues involved in literature on the benefits and limitations of such approaches • more now published, but more needed …!

47. Data and Methods • often a diversity of methods and tools rather than a single one are encompassed • types of data collected vary with the aims of the study and the nature of the sample • samples are most often small, but may rise to 500 or more informants • as we have seen data include interviews, group discussions, fieldwork diaries and observation notes, personal documents, photographs etc. • created in a variety of formats: digital, paper (typed and hand-written), audio, video and photographic

48. Description • describing the contemporary and historical attributes, attitudes and behaviour of individuals, societies, groups or organisations • data created now, will in time become a unique historical resource • providing alternative sources (the people’s voice etc.) to the public record that will be deposited in archives

49. Comparative research, replication or restudy • of original research • to compare with other data sources • to provide comparison over time or between social groups or regions etc. • to follow up original sample • verification - substantiating results, although we have yet to see any evidence of re-use for this purpose (might be useful in a teaching context though)

50. Re-analysis • secondary analysis • asking new questions of the data and making different interpretations to the original researcher • approaching the data in ways that weren't originally addressed, such as using data for investigating different themes or topics of study • the more in-depth the material, the more possible this becomes