Social Sciences Doctoral Students Open Day - Curator Session Datasets and Digital Resources - Rachel Kotarski

1. Datasets and Digital
Resources
Rachael Kotarski

2. www.bl.uk 2
• Finding research data for use
• Data citation
• Managing your own data

3. Finding Data
Image: mail.Matt | https://www.flickr.com/photos/46325849@N03/4260519048

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Official Publications Collection
• Comprehensive collections of UK central and devolved government
material going back to the Middle Ages
– Census Reports
– Electoral Registers
• Foreign Government Publications and population statistics
• Guides are available
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/index.html
• Social Science Reference desk are available to assist

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Official Publications Collection:
UK Census Reports
• BL holds statistical reports relating
to each census
• Reports for 1921-1991 in the
reading room on open shelves
• National and county aggregate
reports for England and Wales,
Scotland, Northern Ireland and
Great Britain
• Aggregate statistical information at
each level for all census questions
• Compliments Histpop which has
digitised reports between 1801 –
1937 and Casweb: 1971 – 2001
• Some older reports can be found in
parliamentary papers
Number of Households Lacking or sharing Amenities (England and
Wales)
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
1951 (Lack or
Share Flushing
Toilet)
1961 (Lack or
Share Flushing
Toilet)
1971 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet)
1981 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet)
1991 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet and/or
Bath or Shower)
2001 (Without
Sole use of
Toilet and/or
Bath or Shower)
1851 Population Pyramid
1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000
0-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85+
AgeGroup
Number of People
Male
Female

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Official Publications Collection:
Electoral Registers
• Electoral registers are lists of names of
people entitled to vote, arranged by
address
• The British Library has the national
collection of electoral registers from 1832
to the present day
• The collection is complete from 1947
onwards, but partial before World War II
• Access to electoral registers is subject to
restriction for 10 years after publication,
to comply with legislation
• The registers are arranged by polling
district within constituency
• Guide to Electoral Registers
1936 Electoral Roll for Brighton
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/electreg/electoral.html

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Official Publications Collection:
Foreign Government Publications
• BL holds a great deal of Foreign Government Official Publications
• These can include country census reports and official statistics
• Country Guides are available
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/guides/govtguides.html
• Comprehensive historical population statistics are available for most
European countries and many others across the globe
• Census of India is on open shelves from 1941 onwards, however earlier
reports from 1871 are available in the India Office records

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Also…
• Oral history and sounds
• News media
– Newspaper collection back to 1600s
– News broadcast media: From 2010, recording across 22
free-to-air news channels, ~60hrs a day
• Web archive
– Selective subjects as well as whole .uk domain

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Online…
Image: wheresmysocks | https://www.flickr.com/photos/wheresmysocks/205710716

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UK Data Service
• The UK Data Service holds a very wide variety of social science data:
– Surveys
– Qualitative data
– Longitudinal study data
– Census data
– Business microdata

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Other resources
• The Mass Observation Archive
– Material about everyday life in Britain.
Contains papers generated by the
original Mass Observation social
research organisation (1937-1950s) and
newer material collected continuously
since 1981
http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm
• A Vision of Britain through Time
– Historical Maps, census reports, election
reports and other historical material,
searchable by local area.
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/
• Charles Booth Online Archive
– Archive material from the Booth
collections of LSE and the Senate House
Library
http://booth.lse.ac.uk/
Images from The Mass Observation Archive

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Other longitudinal data
• CLOSER: UK Cohort and longitudinal
studies
http://www.closer.ac.uk/
• Timescapes: Qualitative longitudinal data
http://www.timescapes.leeds.ac.uk/
• UK Data Service longitudinal datasets
http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/key-
data/cohort-and-longitudinal-studies.aspx

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Labour and Industry
• Management and Business Portal
http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/
• Nomis: official labour market statistics from ONS
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk
• Health and Safety Executive statistics
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/
• UK Government statistical reports, including DWP and HMRC
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics
• International Labour Organisation statistics
http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/lang--en/index.htm
• Online marketing statistics reports
http://www.clickz.com/category/stats

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Governmental Open Data

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Sources of International Data – Open Data
• More governments are releasing open datasets onto dedicated web
portals. Examples include:
– United Kingdom http://data.gov.uk/
– USA http://www.data.gov
– Spain http://opendata.euskadi.net
– Australia http://data.gov.au/
• Open data is also being made available by international organisations.
Resources include:
– United Nations http://data.un.org/
– European Union http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
– OECD http://data.oecd.org/
– World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/
– IMF http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm

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Sources of International Data – ESDS
International
• http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/
• ESDS International disseminates and supports both aggregate and
survey international datasets for UK FE and HE
• ESDS Services Include:
– free web-based access to regularly updated international aggregate
(macro) datasets. Including web based analysis tools
– comprehensive support materials for macro datasets and teaching and
learning resources
– introductory courses to raise awareness of international datasets and their
research potential and an annual conference on issues relating to
international data research.
• Major Datasets available from ESDS International include:
– International Energy Agency Data
– European Union
– World Bank
– United Nations

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Further sources of international data
• WHO Global Health Observatory
http://www.who.int/gho/en/
• FAO Stat
http://faostat3.fao.org/home/E
• CESSDA: Data from social science
data archives across Europe
http://www.cessda.net/catalogue/
• Guardian Datastore:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/jan/14/all-our-datasets-index

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DataCite search
• DataCite can be searched directly, http://search.datacite.org

19. Data citation

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Data Citation
It is important to cite the data you used
to make your work reproducible
You should include at least:
– Author or creator of the data
(may be an organisation)
– Title of the data
– Publisher of the data
(organisation making it
available)
– Date the data was published
– Link to the data online,
preferably with a DOI
Cangiano, A., Shutes, I. and Spencer, S.;
(2011): Migrant Care Workers in Ageing
Societies, 2008; Colchester, Essex: UK Data
Archive. http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-
6920-1

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DOIs
The Digital Object Identifier is a persistent identifier that directs users to
an object, even if it changes location.
If an object moves, the new location is given to the existing DOI, so that it
directs users to the same object in the new location.
Where have I seen
them before?
DOIs are used to
provide stable links
to research articles,
e.g.:

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DataCite
• A Registration Agency for Digital Object
Identifiers
• Addressing the challenges of:
• Identifying datasets
• Citing data
• Linking articles and data
• Supports researchers by enabling them to
locate, identify and cite research datasets
with confidence

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How do I get one for my data?
• We’re working with UK Data
Centres and institutions so
that they can assign DOIs to
the data that they manage
and preserve
• You need to submit your data
to one of their repositories to
get a DOI

24. Managing your own
data

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Data Management Planning
Many UK research funders now require Data Management
Plans
Data management planning is not just important for other
users of your research
Major points:
– What data will be created/collected and how?
– How will the data be documented?
– How will ethical and legal issues be managed?
– How will data be stored and backed up?
– Which data will be kept for the long term, and who will do this?
– How will the data be shared?
Image: Will Scullin | https://www.flickr.com/photos/wscullin/3770015991

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ESRC data management: grant holder
responsibilities
• Incorporate data management and sharing as an indivisible part of the research
project and address potential issues of confidentiality, ethical issues, legal
issues, time constraints and other issues
• If collecting or producing data, you are required to develop and implement a
data management plan at the earliest stages of project design and well in
advance of beginning fieldwork
• Seek advice and guidance from the ESRC UK Data Service at the outset of the
project to clarify how issues of confidentiality and sharing are to be addressed
• Report on the on-going implementation of the data management and sharing
plan through annual reporting to ESRC
• Formally offer any data created or repurposed during the lifetime of the award to
the UKDS within three months of the end of the award. If data were accepted,
the grant holder is expected to make them available to the UKDS for preparation
for re-use and archiving without delay

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http://dcc.ac.uk

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Think about how your own data will be
cited!
• Make sure your data has:
– A title
– Appropriate list of ‘creators’
– A publication date
– A description and documentation allowing it to be reused
– Somewhere it will be looked after, preferably where it can get
a persistent identifier

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Where should I put my data?
If ESRC funded, check with UK
Data Service first,
ukdataservice.ac.uk
Next should be your
institutional repository
Image: Simon Webster | https://www.flickr.com/12496774@N02/8326447994

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Identify yourselves!

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http://orcid.org

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Thank you – Any questions?