ESDS and rural data Laurence Horton, ESDS 10 November 2009

1. ESDS and rural dataLaurence Horton, ESDS10 November 2009

2. Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) Who are we? national data archiving and dissemination service, running from 1 Jan. 2003 -2011 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

3. 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 dataservices • built on a foundation of the UK Data Archive, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary

4. 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 access to international data via links with other data archives worldwide history data service in-house (HDS) • 230 new datasets added each year • 6,000 datasets in the collection • over 46,000 registered users • approximately 60,000 downloads worldwide p.a. • 3000+ user support queries

5. 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

6. Why do we exist? Or… why surveys and why secondary analysis? We can’t ask everyone, so we sample. The sample needs to reflect the population in which we are interested It’s imperfect, but done well it will produce a good estimate

7. Benefits of the large-scale government datasets • good quality data • produced by experienced research organisations • UK/GB - usually nationally representative with large samples. Interviewers all over country • good response rates • well documented • continuous data • e.g. Continuous Household Survey 1983 allows comparison over time • data is largely cross-sectional • hierarchical data • individual and household • intra-household differences • household effects on individuals Percentage of women aged 18-49 cohabiting General Household Survey

8. Large-scale government surveys 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 Survey of English Housing British Social Attitudes/Scottish Social Attitudes/Young People’s Social Attitudes/NI Life & Times Vital Statistics for England and Wales

9. 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

10. 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) Families and Children Study (FACS) Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) possible forthcoming Medical Research Council population study datasets – 1946 Birth Cohort

11. 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

12. British Household Panel Survey • collected and deposited by the ULSC at Essex • follows the members of 5500 households first sampled in 1991 • interviews conducted annually • become a major resource for understanding the dynamics of British households • coverage includes: • income, labour market behaviour, social and political values, health, education, housing and household organisation • large new samples were introduced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland • new larger-scale panel study started

13. What do users do with data? • 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

14. Finding data UKDA Catalogue of holdings Describes study, methods and data collection Records all study related publications Lists variables for SPSS datasets Thesaurus aided search, HASSET Can download user guide free Link to web download Themes pages…only health so far!

15. Accessing data Downloading data You first need to register using UK Federation You agree to an End User Licence. For some datasets and to access some ONS variables Special License conditions exist You specify a project for which you’d like to use data You download data selecting your desired format (SPSS, STATA, ASCII, RTF etc) You get an idea of file size

16. Accessing data online online data analysis, including Simple data analysis, visualisation, downloading and sub-setting via Nesstar ESDS Qualidata Online – interview transcripts ESDS Government Vital Statistics online International macro data via Beyond 20/20 and visualisation interface

17. ESDS - user support and resources • Help Desk (email: help@esds.ac.uk) • promotional events/workshops • user and thematic guides • JISCmail lists • advice on creating data and managing data • specialist data support pages • Social Science Data Resources (SSDR) site representatives in local institutions

18. ONS rural and urban definition, 2004 • Variable • Measurable attributes that typically vary over time or between individuals. • Independent: the affecting variable • Dependent: the effected. Vary in value in response to changes in the independent.

19. Rural markers in datasets held at the UK Data Archive “to identify national scale survey data for England that have potential to be used for rural and urban analyses by the Commission for Rural Communities.”

20. Two reviews 1. Datasets with rural variables • ONS 2004 rural/urban area classification) or contain Output Areas as spatial units • Post 2000 national datasets for England with representative population sample.

21. Two reviews 2. National survey datasets for England (post 2000), with representative population sample that do not contain a rural/urban variable. Data owners contacted to investigate • whether a rural/urban variable may exist for the dataset and can be made available • dataset can be retrospectively coded to include a rural/urban variable, based on the presence of postcodes in the dataset • nineteen datasets identified • retrospective coding dependent on willingness of depositor

22. ESDS contact help@esds.ac.uk