ESDS Qualidata: encouraging the growth and use of archived research

1. ESDS Qualidata:encouraging the growth and use of archived research John Southall ESDS Qualidata, University of Essex Methods@Plymouth Plymouth, April 2007

2. Qualitative data resources • What do we have? • How can I find it? • How can I access it? • How can I use it?

3. ESDS Qualidata • function of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) • specialist service led by the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex • acquires, provides access to, and support for, a range of qualitative datasets on a national scale • responsible for enhancing qualitative data and documentation • provides information and training resources for re-analysing qualitative data

4. Economic and Social Data Service • a more integrated national approach to data archiving and dissemination • provides more seamless and easier access to a range of disparate social science data resources • dedicated functions: • Management and Co-ordination Function • Core Data Archiving and Preservation Service • Government Data Service • International Data Service • Qualitative Data Service • Longitudinal Data Service

5. Re-using 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.

6. UKDA: sources of data Data for research and teaching purposes and used in all sectors and for many different disciplines • official agencies - mainly central government • international statistical time series • individual academics - research grants • market research agencies • public records/historical sources • qualitative and quantitative • links to UK census data • access to international datavia links with other data archives worldwide

7. Brief background to Qualidata • project to save ‘endangered’ qualitative social research 1994- • material identified: • collated and organised • catalogued and described • metadata created • deposited with ‘paper’ archives • collections promoted • user support

8. Next phase – archiving digital data • merge with UK Data Archive in 2001 • into an established quantitative digital archive • moving towards electronic and online dissemination • small onsite paper archive maintained National Social Policy and Social Change Archive (NSPSCA) • links with other traditional archives continued

9. NSPSCA screen shot

10. Qualitative data resources • What do we have? • How can I find it? • How can I access it? • How can I use it?

11. 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 • created in a variety of formats: digital, paper (typed and hand-written), audio, video and photographic • often a diversity of methods and tools rather than a single one are encompassed

12. 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 • multi-media: audio, video, photos and text (most common is interview transcriptions) • formats: digital, paper, analogue audio-visual

13. Archiving criteria • relative importance or impact of the study eg. had a major influence in its field and/or representing the working life of a significant researcher • complementary to existing data holdings • popularity of the study topic (health, criminology, social policy) • data that have further analytic potential than the original investigation. • mixed methods data • Raw data or methodology

14. Old media • most new collections are born digital • but much older data in paper format • will digitise paper: • scan and OCR samples of key data • scan as image files to enable faster throughput • may digitise sound from audio tape • facilitate archiving of larger non-digital collections in traditional other archives across the UK • but may selectively digitise ‘highlights’

15. Paper based datasets • Peter Townsend – poverty, old age • Paul Thompson – oral history and the Edwardians • Mildred Blaxter – grandmothers and daughters • Dennis Marsden – fatherless families • National Social Policy and Social Change Archive

17. Contemporary datasets • Grandparents and Teen Grandchildren: Exploring Intergenerational Relationships, 2003-2004 • A Cross-Generational Investigation of the Making of Heterosexual Relationships, 1912-2003 • Classroom Assistants in Primary Schools: Employment and Deployment, 1999-2001 • Penal Communication, 2001-2002 • Gender Divisions and Gentrification, 1960-1992 • Meeting Basic Needs? Exploring the Survival Strategies of Forced Migrants, 2004

18. How is research ‘archived’? • Data are ‘processed’ • error checking/validation of contents • consent and confidentiality agreements met • creation of user guides, listings • Access conditions agreed and applied • New guide to data processing techniques now online: www.esds.ac.uk/news/newsdetail.asp?id=1699

19. digital archives preserve originals • supply copies • conform to licences and any access conditions • access to such archives requires: • material in good order (processed) • searchable catalogue records • user guides and related documentation • Explored through online search engine

20. Qualitative data resources • What do we have? • How can I find it? • How can I access it? • How can I use it?

21. Searching and browsing • By: • free text • investigator • topic • dates of fieldwork and period covered • publications arising • date data released

22. Qualicat screen shot

24. UKDA Catalogue screen shot

27. Qualitative data resources • What do we have? • How can I find it? • How can I access it? • How can I use it?

29. Qualitative data resources • What do we have? • How can I find it? • How can I access it? • How can I use it?

30. Ethical and consent considerations • questions of confidentiality and agreements made at the time of fieldwork • archived data should always conform to ethical and legal guidelines with respect to the preservation of anonymity when this has been requested by informants or guaranteed to them • achieve this by various strategies - • editing the original data • restricting access/vetting • obtaining legal undertakings to protect respondents’ confidentiality

31. Teaching and learning • transcripts can provide unique case material for teaching and learning in both research methods and substantive areas across a range of social science disciplines • designing a new study or developing a methodology or research tool by studying sampling methods, data collection and fieldwork strategies and topic guides • ESDS Qualidata can advise teachers and students on many aspects of using data resources in lectures and for self-study • providing a number of teaching datasets and associated learning materials • training workshops and online materials

32. Finally… some recent innovations • enhanced collections • longer period of processing • more contextual material • new documentation on methods • SN 5457 - Education and the Working Class, 1946-1960 www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/news/newsdetail.asp?id=1685 • subject specific user guides • ESDS Qualidata – Online data browsing system

34. Online access to qualitative data • emphasis on providing direct access to collection content • supports more powerful resource discovery • greater scope for searching and browsing content of data (supplementary to higher level study-related metadata) • since users can search and explore content directly… can retrieve data immediately • providing access to qualitative data via common interface (ESDS Qualidata Online) • supporting tools for searching, retrieval, and analysis across different datasets

38. Web pages www.esds.ac.uk www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/ Email: qualidata@esds.ac.uk