Access to Economic and Social Data via the UK Data Archive Jack Kneeshaw UKDA

1. Access to Economic and Social Data via the UK Data ArchiveJack KneeshawUKDA

2. The ESDS • new national data archiving and dissemination service, running from 1 Jan. 2003 • jointly supported by: • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) • Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) • initial five year funding commitment

3. ESDS 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 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

5. Specialist data services • ESDS Government • ESDS International • ESDS Longitudinal • ESDS Qualidata Provide - dedicated web sites - data and documentation enhancements - user support - training

6. The ESDS Data Collection

7. Collection held at UKDA • 5,000+ datasets in the collection • 300+ new datasets are added each year • 9,000+ orders for data per year • 38,000+ datasets distributed worldwide per year • history data service in-house (AHDS) • access to international datavia links with other data archives worldwide

9. Types of collections • Data for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines • surveys • censuses • registers • aggregate statistics • text (digital) and images

10. Sources of data • official agencies - mainly central government • international statistical time series • individual academics - research grants • market research agencies • public records/historical sources

11. Popular studies • Repeated cross-sectional: • General Household Survey • Labour Force Survey • Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland • Expenditure and Food Survey • British Crime Survey • Family Resources Survey • Longitudinal/panel/cohort: • British Household Panel Survey • Birth cohort studies (NCDS, BCS70, MCS) • English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

12. Politics datasets - quantitative • British Election Studies (inc. BEPS) • Welsh Election Surveys • Scottish Election Surveys • British Social Attitudes • Dissension/Free Votes in the House of Commons, 1979-1997 • Seyd and Whiteley’s Party Membership surveys • Comparative Manifestos Project • Historical MORI and Gallup poll data

13. Politics datasets - qualitative • Liberal Democrats: Structure, Strategy and Contemporary Party Politics in Britain, 1999-2001 • Devolution and Decentralisation in Wales and Brittany, 2001-2002 • Outsiders: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the New Europe, 1999-2001 • The Power of Law in Municipal Politics, 1983-1992 • Trade Union Campaigning in the British General Election, 2001

14. Secondary analysis potential • descriptive / background population information • comparative research, restudy or follow-up study • re-analysis or secondary analysis • research design and methodology • verification • teaching and learning

15. X4L Project: Survey Data in Teaching: enhancing critical thinking and data numeracy • increase the use of real data sources in the classroom • improve the data literacy of GCE A level and university students to: • enable a better understanding of the use of social science data as applied to real-life problems • enhance skills in manipulating numerical data in textbooks, newspapers or reports • become critical consumers of this data • uses the study of crime in society to show how existing data sources can be utilised • project is relevant to a range of social science disciplines: • sociology, politics, psychology and media studies & citizenship studies • resources can be used for A level syllabi but are also highly applicable for undergraduate and postgraduate learning x4l.data-archive.ac.uk

16. International data held at MIMAS • 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: • International Monetary Fund • OECD • United Nations • World Bank • Eurostat • International Labour Organisation

17. Accessing Data: The Role of the UK Data Archive

18. Access • Web access to data and metadata • Data are freely available for the majority of our users • Data supplied in a variety of formats • statistical package formats (eg spss) • databases and spreadsheets • word processed documents • pdf documents

19. Online access to datasets • Web pages • Online catalogue with variable level searching • Subject browsing and major series • Access to online doc - pdf user guides including questionnaires • Registration • One-off registration using Athens authentication • Online account management and “Shopping Basket” ordering • Data access • Web Download in 3 software formats - SPSS, STATA and tab-delimited • NESSTAR – online data analysis, visualisation, subsetting and downloading

29. ESDS specialist data services: www.esds.ac.uk UK Data Archive: www.data-archive.ac.uk help@esds.ac.uk