Sourcing ‘society’ data from

the UK Data Service and

beyond

Hersh Mann

Data Support Manager

UK Data Archive / UK Data Service

30 October 2015

University of Essex

Overview

Supporting Human Rights Organisations 30 October 2015

• What is the UK Data Service?

• What data do we hold?

• Useful resources and further help

• Questions?

What is the UK Data Service?

• A comprehensive resource funded

by the ESRC

• A single point of access to a wide

range of secondary social science

data

• Support, training, guidance

Who is it for?

• Academic researchers and students

• Government analysts

• Charities and foundations

• Business consultants

• Independent research centres

• Think tanks

ukdataservice.ac.uk

UK Data Service

http://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk

Types of data collections

• Survey microdata

• Cross-sectional

• Panel / Longitudinal

• Aggregate statistics

• International macrodata

• Census data

• Aggregate data for 1971 -2011

• Microdata for 1991, 2001, 2011

• Qualitative and mixed methods data

Sources of data

• Official agencies – mainly central government

• International statistical time series

• Research institutions

• Individual academics - research grants

• Market research agencies

• Public records/historical sources

Survey microdata

• Individual or household level data which have been

anonymised to prevent disclosure

• Need to be analysed using a software package like SPSS

or Stata

• Very flexible, you are not limited to previously published

tables

Survey microdata

Key data: UK surveys

• Labour Force Survey

• Annual Population Survey

• Health Surveys (England/Wales/Scotland)

• General Household Survey/General Lifestyle Survey

• Expenditure and Food Survey/Living Costs and Food

Survey

• Crime Survey for England and Wales

• Family Resources Survey

• Housing Surveys

• Citizenship Survey

• British Social Attitudes Survey

UK Surveys

• Data about individuals or households

• Large sample sizes

• Nationally-representative

• Repeated cross-sectional surveys

• Well documented

• Cover many topics including health, work, crime, social

attitudes, family expenditure, living costs, housing, civic

participation, political attitudes, environmental

behaviours, leisure, wealth/financial assets, and many

more.

Key data: Longitudinal / Panel studies

• National Child Development Study (NCDS)

• 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)

• Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)

• British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)

• Understanding Society (UKHLS)

• English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

• Growing Up in Scotland (GUS)

• Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE)

British Household Panel Survey

• Collected and deposited by the Institute for Social and

Economic Research at the University of Essex

• Follows the members of 5500 households first sampled

in 1991 every year to 2008

• Coverage includes:

income, labour market behaviour, social and

political values, health, education, housing

and household organisation

Understanding Society

• The follow-up to the BHPS. Expanded to 40,000

households and 100,000 individuals including the

original BHPS sample

• Coverage includes:

current employment and earnings; employment status; parenting

and childcare arrangements; family networks; benefit payments;

political party identification; household finances; environmental

behaviours; consents to administrative data linkage (health and

education).

• Also incorporates an innovation panel

Civil society; quant and mixed methods

• Community Life Survey, 2013-14 (SN 7560)

• National Survey of Volunteering and Charitable Giving,

2006-2007 (SN 5793)

• National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises,

2010 (SN 7347)

• National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, 2008 (SN

6381)

• Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion: a Critical

Investigation, 2003-2005 (SN 5832)

• Placing Voluntary Activism in Neo-liberal Welfare States:

a Comparative Study, 2005-2008 (SN 6373)

• Social Participation and Identity, 2007-2010 (SN 6691)

International macrodata

• Time series data aggregated to

country/region

• Regularly updated

• International governmental

organisations (IMF, OECD, IEA,

World Bank, UN)

• Wide range of socio-economic

topics

• OECD and World Bank data are

open access

International macrodata themes

Databanks cover:

• Demography, migration and health

• Governance

• Human development

• Social expenditure

• Education

• Economic performance and development

• Trade, industry and markets

• Employment

• Science and technology

• Land use and the environment

International macrodata outputs

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) World Bank (2013): World Development Indicators (Data downloaded: 30 January 2013).

Mimas, University of Manchester. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5257/wb/wdi/2013-01-30

International macrodata

• Download the series you want from UKDS.Stat. No special software required.

UKDS.Stat

Qualitative data

Qualitative data can take a number of different formats: interview transcripts, visual data, focus groups, essays, diaries, online data, observation notes, documents, audio data, open-ended survey questions, case notes, newspaper clippings etc.

Search Discover for Qualitative and mixed methods data

Examples of sociology data collections:

• Family Life and Work Experience before 1918, Middle and Upper Class Families in the Early 20th Century, 1870-1977 (SN 5404)

• Gender Difference, Anxiety and the Fear of Crime, 1995 (SN 4581)

• Mothers Alone: Poverty and the Fatherless Family, 1955-1966 (SN 5072)

• Affluent Worker in the Class Structure, 1961-1962 (SN 6512)

Searching for data - Discover

Some examples

• Human Rights Atlas Dataset, 1981-2012 (SN 7636)

• Collective Rights to Health: Exploring the Experiences of Homeless Families, 2004-2005 (SN 5556)

• Database of Liberal Democratic Performance, 1970-1998 (SN 4046)

• Impact of the Human Rights Act : a Survey of Local Authorities and Travellers, 2001-2002 (SN 4649)

• Ethnic Minority Young People: Differential Treatment in the Youth Justice System, 2006 (SN 6749)

• Role of Identity in Participation in Children's Centre Services: the Subjective Experience of Minority Groups, 2007-2008 (SN 6357)

Some examples

• Socio-Economic Position and Political Support of Black and Ethnic Minority Groups in the United Kingdom, 1972-2005 (SN 5566)

• Aid Salary Discrepancies and Development Workers' Performance, 2007-2010 (SN 6610)

• What's Fair for Whom at Work? Studying the Choice of Justice Norms in Different Work Relationships, 2008-2010 (SN 6569)

• Survey of New Refugees, 2005-2009 (SN 6556)

• Organisational Change, Resistance and Democracy: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Equalities Initiatives, 2007-2010 (SN 7090)

Data access

• Web access to data and metadata

• Data are freely available for research (not for profit)

purposes

• Data supplied in a variety of formats

- statistical package formats (e.g. SPSS, STATA)

- databases and spreadsheets

- word processed documents, PDF documents etc.

Accessing data - registration

• Click on the ‘login’ link on the UK Data Service homepage

• Click on ‘login to the UK Data Service’

• Find your university in the list of institutions and proceed

to the login page (or your UK Data Archive credentials if you are

not at a UK University)

• Enter your login details

• Complete the registration form as a new user

• Accept the End User Licence

• Use the download/order link for the dataset you wish to

access and create a project description

• Download the data in your chosen format

Other sources of data

• AidData

• Correlates of War Project

• Freedom House

• Minorities at Risk

• Uppsala Conflict Data Program

• CIRI Human Rights Dataset

• Human Rights Data Analysis Group

• Polity IV Project

• UNHCR

• …and many, many more.

Actions

• Ask for and pursue data

• Emphasise the benefits of data-sharing

• You are experts in your areas

• Educate on good practice

• Consent

• Collection

• Storage

• Preservation

• Dissemination

• Re-use

• Citation

• Impact

Case Studies

• If you have used data obtained from the UK Data Service

in your research (or have been inspired to do so on the

basis of this presentation!), please contact us and let us

know.

• We would be delighted to feature you in a case study

Case studies - examples

• Papademetriou, D. G., Sumption, M. and Terrazas, A. (2011)

Migration and the Great Recession: The transatlantic

experience, Washington DC: Migration Policy Institute.

• Lloyd, J. (2013) Whose Home? Understanding landlords and

their effect on public policy, research paper, Strategic Society

Centre.

Useful tips - Advice for new users

• We have webpages for new users that provide

information on

• how to find data with our search application – Discover

• how to register and access data

• what kinds of data we hold

• how you can get in touch

Other help and resources

• Have a query? See our help pages and FAQs

• Contact us / follow us

http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/about-us/contact.aspx

https://twitter.com/UKDataService

https://www.facebook.com/UKDataService

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-

bin/webadmin?A0=UKDATASERVICE