Crime surveys user meeting

Thursday 13 December 2012
Royal Statistical Society, London

This meeting will provide a forum for data users and producers to meet and discuss new developments and exchange information about the UK crime surveys.

The meeting is free to attend and lunch will be provided. To view the programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-12-13/

Labour Force Survey/Annual Population Survey user meeting

Monday 10 December 2012
Royal Statistical Society, London

This meeting will provide a forum for data users and producers to meet and discuss new developments and exchange information about the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).

The meeting is free to attend and lunch will be provided. To view the draft programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-12-10/

Introduction to UK Survey Data for studying Attitudes

Thursday 6 December 2012
Basement Lab, Humanities Bridgeford Street building, University of Manchester

This one-day workshop introduces the UK survey data that are available for re-analysis and teaching via the Economic and Social Data Service website. The focus of the workshop will be on data related to attitudes but many of the issues covered are applicable to other areas. The day is appropriate for those with little or no experience of the data.

Participants will learn about the data available, considerations when using the data, the research potential of the data, how to register for and access data and where to go for help. There will also be hands-on computing sessions in SPSS to explore and start analysis using the British Social Attitudes Survey and the British Household Panel Survey.

The meeting is free to attend and lunch will be provided. To view the programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-12-06/

Finding survey data for your research: An introductory webinar

Tuesday 27 November 2012, 11am - 11.50am GMT

This fifty minute webinar will show how to find, explore and access survey data relevant to your research that are available through the Economic and Social Data Service website: www.esds.ac.uk.

The website provides access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, including data from large scale social surveys like the British Social Attitudes Survey or the longitudinal survey Understanding Society.

Starting within an overview of the types of survey data available, the webinar will cover searching the data catalogue, navigating data documentation, exploring data online and accessing data files, including special licence and secure data.

This webinar is ideal for new postgraduate research students looking for survey data to answer their research question but is useful for anyone new to social research who wants to know more about survey data.

You can register, and find Information and tips about attending webinars and using GoToWebinar, at www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-11-27/

This webinar is now fully booked but they may repeat it if there is enough interest. If you would like to attend the repeated webinar please register your interest at www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/webinar/.

Workshop on research data management

Book now for the workshop on looking after and managing your research data

Bookings are now open for an in-depth two-day course where researchers can develop their knowledge and professional skills in handling and managing the research data they produce.

New data management requirements are challenging for early career researchers, as the necessary skills are often not taught in Ph.D. programmes.

To fill that gap, the UK Data Archive is offering a course focusing on all kinds of social science data - quantitative and qualitative - across the following seven areas of data management and data sharing:

·         the benefits of good data management

·         data management planning

·         documenting and contextualising your data

·         formatting your data

·         storing your data, including data security, data transfer, encryption and file sharing

·         ethics and consent

·         data copyright

 

This course, on 24-25 April 2013 at the UK Data Archive, is offered as part of the ESRC Advanced Training Network.

Full details and booking: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3364

 

 

A new way to search for data: Discovery is released in beta

Visitors to the ESDS website will now find a new way to search and browse for data collections and other materials.

Discovery, a new faceted search and browse interface, has been released in beta form so it can be improved and refined with user interaction and feedback. It will run alongside the existing Data Catalogue search while it is still in beta; links to Discovery can be found from the Data Catalogue.

The aim of Discovery is to make data discovery easier and more streamlined for all users of the new UK Data Service. Discovery expands not only the ways in which users can search, but also the types of things that they can search for.

It offers visitors the chance to search and browse for a variety of data-related materials:

·         data collections disseminated via the UK Data Service
·         the contents of ESRC Data Store
·         case studies showing how the data have been used
·         support guides showing how to use the data
·         publications and outputs associated with the data

Discovery allows users to browse using filters and offers some new and interesting functions, such as suggestions of other data collections that may be of interest and the ability to move from related data to case studies and support guides. Of course, it is still possible to search in more traditional ways as well.

 

Discovery is still in development and UKDS are very keen to improve it. All comments on any aspect of its functionality or content will be warmly welcomed. Please do tell them what you think, either by email to comms@data-archive.ac.uk or using the feedback form on the Discovery page.

UK Data Service Discovery - beta:  http://beta-discovery.data-service.ac.uk/

Millenium Cohort Study Workshop

Bookings are now open for a workshop to introduce the Millennium Cohort Study. The workshop will be held at the Institute of Education, University of London on 28 November 2012 and will focus on the data from the survey carried out when the study children were aged seven years.

The taught component includes presentations on the MCS survey; the MCS sample and issues of weights, response, non-response and attrition; and how to access data.

The hands-on component will cover a range of topics, including: linking data from all four sweeps; recoding variables; deriving new variables; examining frequencies and percentages; correlation and regression; how issues of weighting affect results; how to measure attrition and the implications this may have for research.

 

THIS IS NOT A FREE EVENT for more details and booking:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3356

IASSIST 2013: Call for papers

IASSIST is an international organization of professionals working in and with information technology and data services to support research and teaching in the social sciences.

The 2013 annual conference will be hosted by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences at Maternushaus in Cologne, Germany from May 28-31.

The theme of this year’s conference is Data Innovation: Increasing Accessibility, Visibility and Sustainability

This theme reflects recent efforts across the globe by the largest government agencies down to the smaller independent research units to make data (be it survey, administrative, geospatial, or scientific) more open, accessible and understandable for all.

With an ever-increasing availability of new technologies offering unparalleled opportunities to sustainably deliver, share, model and visualize data, the program committee anticipates that there is much to share with and much to learn from one another. Interdisciplinarity is a large part of where innovation comes from, and we hope to receive submissions from those in the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and computer science fields.

The progam committee welcomes submissions on the theme outlined above, and encourages conference participants to propose papers and sessions that would be of interest to a diverse audience. In order to make session formation and scheduling more streamlined, we have created three distinct tracks. If you are not sure where your submission fits, or feel that it fits into more than one track, that’s perfectly fine. Please do still make your submission, and if accepted, we will find an appropriate fit.

The Conference Website can be accessed here (additional content will be added as more information becomes available), and will soon be linked from the main IASSIST Website: http://www.iassist2013.org/iassist-2013-home/

Online submission forms and guidelines for BOTH conference content and workshops can be found here: http://www.iassist2013.org/conference/calls/

NOTE: The top of the page is for sessions/papers/posters/round tables/pecha kuchas the bottom is for workshops – please note that the submission forms are completely separate.

All submissions are due by December 5, 2012. Notification of acceptancewill be made by February 5, 2012

 

Biomarkers in Understanding Society: policy potential

Thursday November 8th 2012, 2 – 5pm at the British Academy, London (tea/coffee available from 1.30pm).

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/festival/festival-events/professionals-2012/biomarkers.aspx

This half-day event is aimed at policymakers to broaden their understanding of how biomarker data collected as part of the Understanding Society study could potentially inform policy research. The event will take the form of a seminar with speakers with specialist knowledge of the potential value of bio-markers, for example, in the field of epigenetics and public health. Speakers include Heather Laurie, Amanda Sacker, James Nazroo, Dieter Wolke and John Hobcraft.

The biomarker data combined with the social and environmental data contained in the study have significant applications for public health policy and this event aims to bring the potential of the data to the attention of policy makers across a range of government departments as well as within the third sector. This is an innovative and exciting area of research and the event aims to provide data users information about the data that will be available and the opportunity to discuss potential uses of the data to address policy concerns. This event will be of interest to policy makers, academic and policy researchers and PhD students.There is no need to register.

Directions to the British Academy can be found here (http://www.britac.ac.uk/contact/visit_us.cfm)

EU-LFS and EU-SILC User Conference: Call for Papers

Users’ Conference 2013: Call for Papers

European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) and European Union Statistics on Income & Living Conditions (EU-SILC)

21 - 22 March 2013, Mannheim, Germany

Deadline for Submission: 31 October 2012

The 1st European User Conference for EU-LFS and EU-SILC, organized by the German Microdata Lab, GESIS, financially supported by Data without Boundaries, in cooperation with Eurostat, will provide researchers with the opportunity to present and discuss their work and share their experience.

Researchers of all disciplines (e.g. economics, demography, geography, political science, public health, and sociology) who use either EU-LFS or EU-SILC microdata are encouraged to participate and to submit an abstract.

More information & application form: http://dwbproject.org/events/users_conf1.html

 

World Bank releases new Exporter Dynamics Database

The new Exporter Dynamics Database offers the most comprehensive picture yet of exporter characteristics and dynamics in 45 developed and developing countries. The database mainly covers 2003-2009, though data from the 1990s are also available for some countries.

It allows for cross-country comparisons of exporters based on factors such as size, survival, growth, and concentration. More countries will be added as the database expands. Until now, most databases focus not on exporting firms, but on the aggregate flow of goods across borders based on countries or products.

Based on data sets covering the universe of export transactions obtained directly from customs agencies, the data are comparable across countries. Measures cover the basic characteristics of exporters (their numbers, size and growth), their concentration and degree of diversification in products and markets, their dynamics in terms of entry, exit and survival, and the average unit prices of the products they trade.

Data Citation Index - Web of Knowledge - Launch in late 2012.

Thomson Reuters are due to launch the Data Citation Index in late 2012.

The Data Citation Index will form part of the Web of Knowledge platform, incorporating content from data sets and data studies deposited in over 80 established, curated repositories, from around the World. Coverage will be with multi-disciplinary across social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences and arts and humanities.

* A more comprehensive view of scholarly output
* Track the use and impact of research data
* Speed the research process

More information on the Data Citation Index:
http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/multidisciplinary/dci/

Data Citation Index Selection essay:
http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/DCI_selection_essay.pdf

Funding for transnational access to official microdata

Call for research proposals under the FP7 EU project "Data without Boundaries" (DwB)

To enhance access across borders to official microdata, the FP7-funded Data without Boundaries project offers different kinds of support for the work with a range of highly-detailed data from a number of European countries.

Please, read the instructions carefully at: http://www.dwbproject.org/access/call.html

This is a continuous call and there will be additional opportunities to apply. The next upcoming *deadline is 15th October 2012*. Additional deadline dates are 15th April and 15th October in 2013 and 2014.

The call is available also as pdf (240 kB) http://www.dwbproject.org/access/doc/DwB_third_call_for_proposals.pdf

Further details on DwB: http://www.dwbproject.org/about/

Intro-level ‘What is?’ audio slideshows online

The audio slideshows from ‘What is?’ sessions at the 5^th ESRC Research Methods Festival are available online:

·         What are qualitative research ethics?
·         What is analytic induction?
·         What are cohort studies?
·         What are community studies?
·         What is discourse analysis?
·         What are electronic data collection methods?
·         What is event history analysis?
·         What is geosimulation?
·         What is multilevel modelling?
·         What is multimodality?
·         What is narrative interviewing?
·         What is online research?
·         What is propensity score matching?
·         What is the regression discontinuity approach?
·         What is social network analysis?

More research methods videos from the 5^th ESRC Research Methods Festival are available on NCRM website.