ESDS Annual Report, 2008-2009

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www.esds.ac.uk/government Contact and collaboration with data users and producers User meetings bring together data producers and users from academia, government departments and voluntary organisations. They provide a very important forum for discussion of new survey developments, user consultation and dissemination of new research findings. Six meetings are now held each year – each on a different survey or set of surveys and each with about eight short presentations. The programme is developed in collaboration with the survey producer (Natcen or ONS) and, where appropriate, the relevant government departments, such as the Home Office or Department of Health. Meetings are typically attended by 60-70 people and all presentations are published on the ESDS web site, forming a widely-used repository of information on the surveys. These meetings often have valuable outcomes; for example, following discussions at a recent Family Resources Survey meeting ONS agreed to deposit the Households Below Average Income dataset with the UK Data Archive – a dataset widely used by government to chart changes in income inequality. A less tangible outcome is the opportunity for discussion – both formal and informal – between a wide range of users, representative of the funding departments and the data producers. Wherever possible the aim is to develop resources in collaboration with the data producers. The recent guide to the Expenditure and Food Survey provides an example where the service has worked in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), who are responsible for the sections of the survey on food purchases and ONS who run the entire survey. This ensures that the final guide, which is available online, provides material which is of value to a wide spectrum of users. Outreach activities 1 2 E C O N O M I C A N D S O C I A L DATA S E RV I C E A N N UA L R E P O RT AU G U S T 2 0 0 8 – J U LY 2 0 0 9 As a result of consultations aimed at achieving greater use of government surveys, a theme-based poster series has been developed which highlights the benefit and potential of the survey series. In autumn 2008, a series of A4 sized posters focusing on crime were sent to over 400 UK social science departments with a request to display and circulate these materials. In September 2009, another set of posters on the topic of health were sent to UK social science departments. Other outreach is achieved by twice-yearly newsletter, regular email updates to users, conference presentations and regular hands-on introductory workshops. The range of web-based resource increases annually as more user guides are added to the collection. These include theme-based guides to help users identify relevant topics on health, crime, consumption – and methodological guides - for example, on using the government surveys to analyse change over time, or on using hierarchical data, matching files and pooling data.
ESDS International During the last year ESDS International has further enhanced its macro and microdata portfolios, created a new set of e-learning materials and implemented exciting new ways to engage with the user community. In addition, the service reached a milestone and welcomed its 20,000 th user this year. Extending the user community ESDS International is keen to engage and extend the user community using innovative technologies and this year launched its own YouTube channel and Twitter account. With presentations from the most recent annual conference uploaded to YouTube and regular tweets to provide users with updates on new features, the service is able to engage more interactively with the user base. ESDS International is also working collaboratively with others, such as Intute Economics, to promote the service and engage subject communities. These new methods of communication, in addition to the ESDS International Wikipedia page, will further increase the profile of the service. Online resources and value-added services The team made practical preparations for the OECD’s move towards Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX), and in ground breaking work successfully converted and processed data from SDMX format into Beyond 20/20 format. Behind the scenes, the team also prepared for the move to a new version of Beyond 20/20 in September 2009 and a simultaneous upgrade to a new, more powerful and resilient hardware infrastructure. Introductory guides were produced for two sets of survey data supported by the service. A guide to the Eurostat surveys (e.g. the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) and the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and a guide to several regional barometer surveys (e.g. Afrobarometer) outlining what data are available, how they might be accessed and what resources exist. Developing Research Capabilities Following on from the success of the Countries and Citizens e-learning materials an additional set of e-learning materials were released in February 2009, based on a key socio-economic data topic - the United Nation’s (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They have been designed to enable learners to explore the UN’s MDGs whilst at the same time guiding them through using the datasets available at ESDS International. These materials are freely available to all for use in self study or within taught courses although they are aimed primarily at UK higher and further education learners. E C O N O M I C A N D S O C I A L DATA S E RV I C E A N N UA L R E P O RT AU G U S T 2 0 0 8 – J U LY 2 0 0 9 1 3 www.esds.ac.uk/international
Page 1 and 2: active users datasets delivered dat
Page 3 and 4: Economic and Social Data Service An
Page 5 and 6: This is ESDS ESDS Government - Led
Page 7 and 8: Demonstrating the impact of ESDS ES
Page 9 and 10: ESDS International (micro) Young Li
Page 11 and 12: ESDS Qualidata Re-using ESDS Qualid
Page 13: ESDS Government Government surveys,
Page 17 and 18: ESDS Longitudinal In recent years,
Page 19 and 20: ESDS Qualidata Data highlights ESDS
Page 21 and 22: ESDS Access and Preservation New ca
Page 23 and 24: ESDS Management Effective delivery
Page 25 and 26: Measuring ESDS This section provide
Page 27 and 28: Table 3b Data Reports generated for
Page 29 and 30: 1,000,000 900,000 800,000 700,000 6
Page 31 and 32: Advising ESDS ESDS has an Advisory

ESDS Annual Report, 2008-2009

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