RLAB DATA

The Royal Statistical Society's 2012 International Conference

2012-02-20T12:23:00.001Z

Telford International Centre
3-6 September.

The conference organisers welcomesubmissions for contributed talks and posters are currently welcomed on anytopic or area of interest related to statistics and the use of data. Theonline submission system – together with information about the exactrequirements - can be accessed via the conference website www.rss.org.uk/rss2012

The deadline for submissions is 30March.

The broad streams for the conferencehave been announced as follows:

medical, clinical trials,epidemiology
public sector & policyevaluation
statistical methods & theory
environment & ecology
data science (including experimentaldesign)
communication of statistical ideas
quality & process improvement
industry & commerce
emerging topics

Full details about the topicscovered by each stream can be found on the conference website, however possibletopics within the ‘Public sector & policy evaluation’ stream include:

Census

Demography
National/Official Statistics
Performance measurement/monitoring
Sampling/surveys
Data disclosure/linkage
Open Data
National well-being
Evidence-based policy
Health service statistics
Housing statistics
Income statistics
Population statistics
Transport statistics
Use of statistics for policyevaluation & service delivery in the public sector

Contributed talk presenters will beallocated 20 minute slots in parallel contributed sessions for theirpresentations. Meanwhile posters will be displayed in the main exhibition areawhere all refreshments will be served.

Submissions from statisticians andusers of statistics in the early stages of their careers are positivelyencouraged.

The following plenary speakers havebeen confirmed for the conference: Hal Varian (Google), Martine Durand (OECD)and David Hand (Imperial College).

Confirmed invited sessions include: Making the most of the 2011 Census outputs forEngland & Wales, Measuring National Well-Being, Ageing in the 21^st Century,Inequality in the UK, Methodology for Longitudinal Studies and ‘Big Data’Challenges.

Further information about thespeakers and the invited session topics can be found on the conference website www.rss.org.uk/rss2012

British Secondary Data: Researching Housing and the Local Environment

2012-01-31T15:34:00.000Z

Monday 26 March 2012
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education,London

This one-day workshop organised by the Economic andSocial Data Service introduces British individual-level data ('microdata') thatare available for re-analysis. The focus will be on data from surveys and theCensus, with a particular emphasis on the English Housing Survey.

The day is aimed at those with little or no experience ofthe data. Participants will learn about the data available and their researchpotential, how to access data and where to go for help. There will also be ahands-on session to explore the English Housing Survey data online and in SPSS.Presenters are drawn from the Department of Communities and Local Government,Economic and Social Data Service, ESRC Census Programme and Centre forLongitudinal Studies.

This is one of a series of events being held in supportof the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.

The workshop is free to attend and lunch will beprovided. To view the programme and book a place please go to http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-03-26/

Introducing the European Social Survey (ESS) and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP): Key resources for comparative research

2012-01-31T13:48:00.000Z

Date: 22 March 2012
Location: London

Bookings are now open for a freeworkshop on two key cross-national social survey resources - the EuropeanSocial Survey (ESS) and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) -which will explore opportunities for secondary analysis using the data.

The workshop will describe the methodologiesand coverage of the data, and provide a demonstration of how to analyse andaccess them online. The workshop will also include two expert presentationseach showcasing recent research using the surveys.

This is one of a series of events,organised by ESDS, in support of the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.These events are designed for researchers who are not current users of theseESRC-funded data resources, and who wish to apply for grants under thisInitiative. It is not suitable for students.

This course is free to attend butbooking is essential. Cancellations must be received within 5 working days ofthe event, otherwise a cancellation fee of £25 will be charged. See details andbooking form at the link below.:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3131

Warning - Scam census email

2012-01-27T16:02:00.000Z

Statement from Director of the 2011 Census, Glen Watson,Friday 27 January 2012.

Email Scam

We are aware that an email entitled 'Population Census: amessage to everyone - act now' is being circulated, allegedly in the name ofNational Statistician, Jil Matheson. This email demands individuals providefurther personal information, supposedly for the Census and threatens fines fornon-compliance.

This email is a scam and a hoax. It has no connectionwhatsoever with the National Statistician, the 2011 Census or the Office forNational Statistics.

We believe the links in the email could download malwareto any computer where the user clicks on the links. This could put yourpersonal data, including financial information, at risk.

Anyone receiving this, or similar emails, should deletethem, not open any links and certainly not provide any information.

For more information on how to protect yourself from thistype of threat, please see www.getsafeonline.org

If you wish to, please report receipt of any suchsuspicious emails to www.actionfraud.org.uk

ONS takes the protection of personal census informationextremely seriously. Collection of census data was completed last year and nofurther requests will be forthcoming from the Office for National Statisticsrelating to the 2011 Census.

Webinar: Introducation to ESDS

2012-01-26T16:21:00.001Z

Title: Introducing ESDS data

Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM GMT

Supporting theESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative

This hour-longwebinar will showcase a range of datasets and supporting materials availablefree of charge through the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) along withcase studies that demonstrate how they can be used to develop high-impactresearch. Participants are encouraged to share their research interests anddata questions in advance in order to customise content.

This is also anopportunity to learn more about the logistics of finding, downloading andanalysing ESDS datasets, specifically covering catalogue records, datadocumentation, guides, and online data visualisation tools such as Nesstar.

This is one of aseries of events being run in support of the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.These events are designed for researchers who are not current users of theseESRC-funded data resources, and who wish to apply for grants under thisInitiative.

This webinar isfree to attend but registration is essential.

After registeringyou will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining theWebinar.

System Requirements

PC-basedattendees

Required:Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-basedattendees

Required: Mac OS®X 10.5 or newer

Space is limited.

Reserve yourWebinar seat now at:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/268535110

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey user meeting

2012-01-26T12:07:00.003Z

Wednesday 21 March 2012, 9.30am – 1.00pm
Royal Statistical Society, Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX

ESDS Government has organised this half-day Opinions andLifestyle Survey user meeting which will comprise a number of papers from usersof the current ONS Opinions Survey and the General Lifestyle Survey. The usermeeting will also provide users with valuable information from ONS on thecontent and methodology of the new Opinions and Lifestyle Survey that will becreated in 2012 as a result of merging the ONS Opinions survey with some of theprevious General Lifestyle Survey questions. For more information on thisplease see the ONS website at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html.

The meeting is free to attend. To view the programme andbook a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-03-21/

Living Costs and Food Survey user meeting

2012-01-26T12:05:00.002Z

Tuesday 20 March 2012
Royal Statistical Society, Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX

This meeting, organised by the Economic and Social DataService, will provide a forum for data users and producers to meet and discussnew developments and exchange information about the Living Costs and FoodSurvey. The programme contains a mixture of papers from data producers andresearchers.

The meeting is free to attend and lunch is provided. Toview the programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-03-20/

BHPS user support

2012-01-26T11:48:00.002Z

Support for users of the British Household Panel Study can now be found at http://data.understandingsociety.org.uk/documentation/support

Using Census Microdata

2012-01-26T10:39:00.001Z

29 February 2012
Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University ofManchester

Description: This event will provide users with an introduction to twotypes of census microdata; SARs data which takes a sample of census respondentsat a single time and longitudinal data which follows a sample of respondentsover time.

During the day participants will hear about the uniqueand key features of the data, how they compare with other datasets, how theycan used to answer research questions and get the opportunity to use both typesof data in hands-on sessions.

Organiser/Chair: Rachel Stuchbury works within the Centre for LongitudinalStudy Information and User Support (CeLSIUS) at the London School of Hygieneand Tropical Medicine. Where she is extending the distance-based learning andweb resources and also provides advice and data extracts to users of theLongitudinal Studies.

Jo Wathan supports the Samples of Anonymised Records atthe Centre for Census and Survey Research at the University of Manchester. Shehas been a member of the SARs team since 2001 where she has worked on settingup, documenting, supporting and promoting use of the SARs

Level: Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)

Cost: The fee is: 1. £30 - For UK registered postgraduatestudents 2. £60 - For staff at UK academic institutions, ESRC fundedresearchers and registered charity organisations 3. £220 - For all otherparticipants. All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoontea. They do not include travel and accommodation costs.

Website and registration: http://store.southampton.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=5&prodid=38&deptid=8&catid=23

Contact:

Jacqui Thorp

Training Administrator
National Centre for Research Methods
University of Southampton
Tel: 023 8059 4069
Email: jmh6@soton.ac.uk

ESDS Case Studies linked to Catalogue

2012-01-11T17:01:00.002Z

The ESDS' library of 80 case studies is now linked to the data collectionsin the ESDS catalogue.

This means that when you search for a specific dataset, youwill see case studies based on that data automatically appear on the right sideof the catalogue record. For an example, see this catalogue page for theEdwardians. You will also see relevant case studies appear on the ESDSmajor studies pages e.g. British Social AttitudesSurvey list of datasets.

Related case studies will also appear on the right side ofthe web pages for ESDS Longitudinal datasets. For example, see the guide to theEnglish Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

The entire library ofESDS case studies is also available in an easy-to-use faceted searchinterface, developed using Simile Exhibit, an open source application thatharnesses the power of semantic web technology.

RLAB Stata Journal Available

2012-01-11T16:55:00.001Z

For RLAB staff, the new release of the Stata Journal 2011_4 has been released and is available via the RLAB library

ADLS portal

2012-01-11T16:46:00.000Z

The Portal of the Administrative Data Liaison Service (www.adls.ac.uk/padls) is a new onlinedevelopment designed to hold methods, models and code used in administrativedata research. The aim of P-ADLS is toimprove the consistency, quality and quantity of administrative data relatedresearch by allowing researchers to view, replicate and develop existingresources.

There are currently over fifty resources in the P-ADLSBank. As examples, recent submissionsshared by researchers include code to help define avoidable mortality and codeto distinguish disabling and limiting health conditions.

The ADLS are keen to continue to expand the resources already held in the P-ADLSBank. As it is recognised that thepreparation and sharing of code requires goodwill, time and effort, the ADLSare currently offering a £20 Amazon gift token for code submissions that aresubsequently published. Full details onhow to submit resources and offer terms are available from the link above.

The P-ADLS Bank is also a useful way to highlight yourresearch work amongst the academic community. All new resources added by you to the P-ADLS Bank will be tweeted by theADLS. You can sign up to receive thesetweets by following us at http://twitter.com/#!/adlstweet.

As this is a new development, the ADLS would welcome yourthoughts and comments. If you need any furtherinformation then please contact me the ADLS manager:
Darren Lightfoot,
Email: ADLS@st-andrews.ac.uk
Telephone: 01334 46 3901
Web: www.adls.ac.uk

Measuring National Well-being

2012-01-11T16:39:00.002Z

A jointmeeting of the Official Statistics and Social Statistics Sections will takeplace on

8th March 2012 at 5pm with tea/coffee from 4.30pm, at the RSS, 12 Errol Street EC1Y 8LX

Speakers

PaulAllin, Director:Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme, Office for National Statistics

CharlesSeaford, Head of theCentre for Well-being, New Economics Foundation, will respond as adiscussant.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) MeasuringNational Well-being (MNW) programme aims to develop and publish anaccepted and trusted set of National Statistics to understand and monitorwell-being.

The programme was launched in November 2010 with a national debate on‘What matters to you?’ to improve understanding of what should be included inmeasures of the nation’s well-being. Further information on the programme is athttp://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html

ONS has been undertaking a consultation seeking views on a proposed setof domains (aspects of national well-being) and headline indicators which wereoutlined in the discussion paper“Measuring National Well-being - Discussion paper on domains and measures” (31October 2011). The domains and indicators were developed from responses to thenational debate, research into well-being and international initiatives.

In addition, ONS have recently released initial experimentalresults looking at individuals assessments of their own well-being,collected via ONS’s Opinions survey.

Attendanceis free and open to all,but pre-registration is recommended. You can register by email meetings@rss.org.uk or by phone (020)7638 8998.
For further information aboutthe meeting contact Charles Lound or David Matz (charles.lound@ons.gsi.gov.ukor david.matz@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk)

Methodological challenges associated with Non-Response and Missing Data in ageing populations

2012-01-06T15:25:00.001Z

3rd February 2012 11:00-16:30
Institute forSocial & Economic Research (ISER), Social Science Research Centre, room2N2.4.16, University of Essex

The workshop brings together researchers and experts fromdifferent cohort and longitudinal studies with a common interest in dealingwith the complexities of non-response and missing data. The workshop includesdemonstrations using new software (Stata 12), as well as presentations frommajor ageing cohort studies.

Topics and speakers include (the speaker list may changeon the day):

11:00-11:45 Shaun Scoles, Centre for Applied HealthResearch, UCL Practical issues related to non-response, weighting andimputation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

11:45-12:30 Jonathan Bartlett, Department of MedicalStatistics, LSHTM A demonstration of multiple imputation approaches and methodsusing Stata 12

12:30-13:15 Rebecca Landy, MRC Unit for Lifelong Healthand Ageing, UCL A simulation of 1946 birth cohort data using three differentmissing data mechanisms- complete case, multiple imputation and Heckmanselection.

13:15-14:00 Lunch

14:00-14:45 Paul Clarke, CMPO, University of BristolAdjusting for non-ignorable non-response in a longitudinal analysis of residentialmobility

14:45-15:30 Jenny Head, Whitehall II study, UCL Joint modelling approaches to analysinghealth decline in studies with informative drop-out

15:30-15:45 Tea and coffee break

15:45-16:30 Peter Lynn, ISER, University of EssexInfluences on response rates amongst older respondents in household panelsurveys

The workshop is free for participants to attend butregistration is essential. Workshop attendees can claim travel expenses. Pleasebook a place using the booking form below:

http://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/ageingcohort/seminar-3/booking.shtml

NHS Lifestyle Surveys Consultation

2012-01-04T17:06:00.000Z

The NHS Information Centre (IC)publishes the following Lifestyles survey publications:

The findings are used to provide an insight into the healthand behaviour of people in England. The longevity of the surveys also enableschanging trends to be studied over time. They can be used to help decisionmakers improve policies and services and ultimately improve the health ofpopulation in this country.

The NHS IC has launched a public consultation on theLifestyles surveys with the following aims:

to engage with the users of the surveys to develop a more complete understanding of the use made of this data
to ensure the surveys are relevant and meaningful to the needs of users
to seek the views of users on the content and format of the publications

This consultation will run for 12 weeks from Friday 30December 2011 to Friday 23 March 2012. Please ensure you submitany comments prior to the closing date so they can be considered.

Further details, along with the full consultation documentare available at

www.ic.nhs.uk/work-with-us/consultations/lifestyles-surveys-consultation-review

If you would like to know more about the consultation or ifyou have any queries, please contact the Lifestyles Statistics Section Head:

Paul Eastwood

Email: paul.eastwood@ic.nhs.uk

Telephone: 0113 2542509

Business Microdata Workshop

2012-01-04T09:49:00.000Z

Researchers interested to know moreabout how business microdata might expand or accelerate their work are invitedto a free workshop in London. The Secure Data Service, a partner of both the UKData Archive and the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), is hosting theworkshop in support of the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.

The half-day event, set for 21February 2012 from 13.00 to 16.00, will be moved to the Medical ResearchCouncil offices in London to accommodate additional researchers.

The programme will provide anintroduction to the range of business data made available to qualified andapproved researchers through the Secure Data Service. This data is collected bythe Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Department for Business,Innovation and Skills (BIS), and other government agencies. These data areconfidential and collected under statistics legislation. Because they arehighly identifiable, they can only be accessed under secure conditions.Attendees will learn how the Secure Data Service works, including details onhow to apply. There will also be a surgery session to respond to user needs andquestions.

This is one of a series of eventsorganised by ESDS in support of the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.These events are designed for researchers who are not current users of theseESRC-funded data resources, and who wish to apply for grants under thisInitiative. It is not suitable for students.

The course is free to attend, butbooking is essential. See details and booking form at the link below:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3060

EU researchers invited to apply for Data without Boundaries access to Secure Data Service

2011-12-13T13:00:00.000Z

The Secure Data Service is a lead partnerin the EU-funded Data without Boundaries (DwB) project. As part of thisproject, academic researchers within Europe are invited to apply for access tohighly detailed social survey, census and business microdata from similarservices in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and France (known as 'Research DataCentres').

This is aunique opportunity for researchers to receive specialist supportand reimbursement ofcosts to conduct comparative research across borders.

Researchers should apply to conductresearch at Research Data Centres (RDCs) not in the country of their residence.Therefore, researchers applying to access the Secure Data Service under the DwBproject should not be resident in the UK.

Datasets available from the SecureData Service are listed in the Data Library.

To apply, qualified researchers shouldvisit the Data Accesssection of the DwB website for more information about the other RDCs involvedand how to apply. Researchers approved under DwB to use data from the SecureData Service will be contacted with details of the additional steps necessaryto be approved to use the Service.

Access to the data will ordinarily beonsite at the Secure Data Service, located on the campus of the University ofEssex. Researchers will be required to attend a half-day training sessionbefore being issued with a member logon, however the training session can beincorporated into the onsite visit to conduct research.

About the Data withoutBoundaries project
How to apply for Data withoutBoundaries access
Secure Data Service datalibrary

New ESDS searchable interface opens library of case studies

2011-12-13T10:11:00.001Z

Looking forideas for how to use ESDS data?

Every day, data from theEconomic and Social Data Service are used in leading-edge research and inuniversity courses throughout the UK and beyond. Now, a new interface makes iteasy to search and browse a growing library of ESDS case studies at the clickof a mouse – a benefit to researchers, teachers, and others looking for ideasand collaborators. Each case study demonstrates how the data are being used,along with links to related resources and articles.

There are currently 62 casestudies in the growing library, including examples from teaching modules topublished research to ideas for future research in key areas. Users can browsethe library using a variety of filters – for example topic, data type, andcourse type and level. In this way, researchers can quickly find casestudies of published research that uses longitudinal datasets to studyhealth-related issues. Similarly, university teachers can find examples of howqualitative data are used to teach statistical methods to undergraduatestudents. There’s also a search function that allows users to find case studiesby keyword, author, date, or any other criteria.

The searchable interface is apioneering project powered by Simile Exhibit, an open source application usingsemantic web technology. The interface includes a link to encourage users toshare their feedback; comments will be used to improve both the case studyinterface and the application.

Searchablelibrary of case studies

Simile Exhibit

Data Training Workshops supporting the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative

2011-12-05T12:49:00.001Z

Introduction to the Millennium Cohort Study
7 December 2011, London
Full day, hands-on Booking open

Data, policy and practice: the potential of secondary data analysis
11 January 2012, Belfast
Half day Booking open

Introduction to the cohort studies theme, TBA
Date TBA, London or Scotland
Full day

Understanding Wales: Opportunities for Secondary Data Analysis
16 January 2012, Cardiff Booking open

Growing up In Scotland(GUS) Data workshop
17 January 2012, Stirling
Full day, hands-on Booking open

Introduction to Understanding Society
24 January 2012, London
Half day Bookings closed - may reopen if spaces become available

Webinar: Introducing ESDS data
TBC January 2012
Webinar, One hour

Introducing the European Social Survey and the International Social Survey Programme: Key resources for comparative research
TBA February 2012, London
Full day

Introduction to business microdata: Using the Secure Data Service
21 February 2012, Colchester
Half day Booking open

Introduction to business microdata: Using the Secure Data Service
28 February 2012, Scotland
Half day

Secondary analysis of qualitative data: Opportunities
TBA February or March 2012, Leeds or London
Half day

National Child Development Study (NCDS): Using mixed methods data
6 March 2012, London
Half day

Introducing the International Time Series databanks
14 March 2012, Manchester
Half day Booking open

Introduction to ESDS - opportunities for researching the labour market
21 March 2012, Sheffield
Full day Booking open

Introducing ESDS data: Researching Housing and the Local Environment
26 March 2012, London
Full day

Immigration Statistics July-Sept 2011

2011-12-05T11:53:00.001Z

The Home Office has published Immigration Statistics July– September 2011. This release provides the latest provisional figures on thosesubject to immigration control, for the period up to the end of September 2011and is available from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-q3-2011/

The release includes a number of new developments thatare detailed on the Summary page http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-q3-2011/immigration-q3-summary

If you have any questions or comments about this release,please send an email to MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Also released today are migration- and population–relateddata from Office for National Statistics, Department for Work and Pensions andNational Records of Scotland, all of which can be accessed from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey User Meeting - Call for Papers

2011-11-21T13:49:00.001Z

ESDS Government is organising an Opinions and LifestyleUser Meeting for Wednesday 21 March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society,London.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a new survey thatwill be created in 2012 as a result of merging the ONS Opinions survey withsome of the previous General Lifestyle Survey questions. For more informationon this please follow this link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html

The User Meeting will provide users will valuableinformation from ONS on the content and methodology of the new survey. Themeeting will also comprise a number of papers from users of the current ONSOpinions Survey and the General Lifestyle Survey. We, therefore, invite offersof presentations from researchers based on the analysis of either the ONSOpinions Survey or the General Lifestyle Survey.

Details of previous user meetings can be found at http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words,to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.ukas soon as possible but by 23 December at the latest.

Understanding Society: Introductory Workshop

2011-11-15T14:21:00.000Z

Date: 24 January 2012
Location: HEFCE offices,CentrePoint, London

This half-day workshop is designedfor researchers who want to maximise the research value of the new UnderstandingSociety dataset, also known as the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS).

The event, jointly organised by theInstitute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Economic and SocialData Service (ESDS), includes presentations on:

the value of household longitudinalstudies
the design and collection of the UnderstandingSociety survey
how to access the data

A particular focus will be on thestudy's four samples, including the British Household Panel Study and theEthnic Minority Boost sample, plus the study's richness of data on family andsocial ties, work, financial resources, and health. Participants will alsolearn how to use the online resources available to users.

This is one of a series of eventsbeing run in support of the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. Thecourse is free to attend but booking is essential.

For further details and to book aplace please visit: http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3051

2011-11-14T14:48:00.001Z

from the website http://www.opendata.go.ke/page/about

About the Kenyan Open Government Data Portal

Our information is a national asset, and this site is about sharing it.
The goal of opendata.go.ke is to make core government development, demographic, statistical and expenditure data available in a useful digital format for researchers, policymakers, ICT developers and the general public.

Why are we making data available?

Making this data easily accessible is important for 3 key reasons:

It's a platform for innovation, that will generate economic and social value: from savings and efficiencies within government, service delivery improvements and citizen feedback systems to new wealth and jobs generated in the private sector.
It enables data-driven decision making: parliamentarians, policy makers, civil society organisations and individuals can see progress and make accurate, informed decisions on issues that affect people's lives.
It's the foundation for improving transparency and accountability: the data includes detailed, timely information on the operations of government, the results of the work it does and the opportunities that exist for improving the country.

What data is available?

Right now, there are over 160 datasets including the complete 2009 census, national budget data, nation and county public expenditure data, information on health care and school facilities. See the Data Catalog for a full list of what is available.

Who can use this data?

In short, anybody is free to use this data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. See the terms and conditions for a more detailed explanation.

How can I use this data?

This site is intended to initially have something for everyone:

There are maps and county factsheets that will let you quickly see data in a convenient form.
The charts and tables on the site are dynamic and can be customised with filters and queries to answer your particular questions.
Finally, the raw data is available for download and accessible via an API so technical users and developers can analyse data and use it to build applications for the web and mobile.

How can I find out more?

If you've got ideas for the site, want to contribute data or simply have a question that's not covered here, please contact us:
t: + 254-020-2093040 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting + 254-020-2093040 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
e: contact@opendata.go.ke

Select Committee Inquiry: The Census and Social Science

2011-11-14T11:03:00.001Z

SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

No. 98 (10-12): 9 November 2011

NEW INQUIRY ANNOUNCED: Thecensus and social science

InJuly 2010 the Government announced that the Census, the official populationcount carried out by Government every 10 years, would be axed after 2011. TheOffice for National Statistics (ONS) set up the Beyond 2011 Programme toinvestigate and assess alternative options for producing the population andsocio-demographic data required in England and Wales.

TheScience and Technology Committee has agreed to conduct a short inquiry lookingat the impact of ending the Census on social science research. It is anticipatedthat this will feed into the work of the ONS.

Termsof Reference

TheCommittee seeks written submissions on the following matters:

How do social scientists use Census data?
What impact will the ending of the Census have on social science research?
What alternatives to the Census would provide population and socio-demographic data of equivalent or higher quality?
What other existing sources of population and socio-demographic data could be improved upon?

Submitting written evidence

The Committee invites writtensubmissions on these issues by noon on Wednesday 30 November 2011.

Eachsubmission should:

a) be no morethan 3,000 words in length;
b) be in Word format with as little use of colour or logos as possible;
c) have numbered paragraphs; and
d) include a declaration of interests.

A copy of thesubmission should be sent by e-mail to scitechcom@parliament.ukand marked "Census". An additional paper copy should be sent in duecourse (not by the deadline) to:

TheClerk
Science and Technology Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA

Pleasenote that:

· ▪ Material alreadypublished elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may bereferred to within a proposed memorandum, in which case a hard copy of thepublished work should be included.

· ▪ Memoranda submittedmust be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publicationby the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.

· ▪ Once submitted,evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though notalways, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishingit on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by makingit available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any informationyou believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm youbelieve would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this intoaccount in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

· ▪ Select Committees areunable to investigate individual cases.

Moreinformation on submitting evidence to Select Committees may be found on theparliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/have-your-say/take-part-in-committee-inquiries/witness/

FURTHER INFORMATION

Committee Membership:

Andrew Miller (Labour, Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Chair)
Gavin Barwell (Conservative, Croydon Central)
Gregg McClymont (Labour, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Stephen McPartland (Conservative, Stevenage)
Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative, South Basildon and East Thurrock)
David Morris (Conservative, Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Stephen Mosley (Conservative, City of Chester)
Pamela Nash (Labour, Airdrie and Shotts)
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour/Co-operative, Stalybridge and Hyde)
Graham Stringer (Labour, Blackley and Broughton)
Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat, Brecon andRadnorshire)

Specific Committee Information: scitechcom@parliament.uk / 020 7219 2793
Media Information: Rebecca Jones jonesbl@parliament.uk / 020 7219 5693
Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/science
Watch committees and parliamentary debates online: www.parliamentlive.tv

Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from theParliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or theStationery Office (0845 7023474). Committee reports, press releases,evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

Call for papers - Living Costs and Food Survey user meeting

2011-11-14T10:13:00.001Z

ESDS Government is organising it's first LCF user meeting for Tuesday 20March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society, London. The programme will containa mixture of papers from data producers and researchers. We invite offers ofpresentations based on analysis of the Living Costs and Food Survey and theformer Expenditure and Food Survey. Presenters will have 20 minutes for theirtalk followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Details of previous user meetings can be found at http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.ukas soon as possible but by 9 December at the latest.

Update from ONS on the future of the GLF Survey

2011-10-31T15:27:00.000Z

ONS has recently published a short information note on their progress and intentions regarding the future of the General Lifestyle Survey. The note, called Update to the future of the GLF survey outlines the intention to change the way the General Lifestyle Survey data are collected, seeks to identify the current uses of the survey data, any implications of stopping the survey, and options for alternative information sources.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html

Track Changes in ORBIS

2011-10-25T16:20:00.000+01:00

Bureau van Dijk provides a website detailing all the changes to the ID variable in the ORBIS database. http://idchanges.bvdinfo.com

Booking now open for ESDS International 7th Annual Conference 2011

2011-10-25T10:23:00.000+01:00

ESDS International is holding this year's annual conference on Monday 28 November 2011 at the Institute of Materials in London.

Booking now open (http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/esdsEventManagement.asp?id=2904).

Programme (http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/conf2011.asp).

The theme of the conference is Understanding the World: Evidence and Impact, and the event will be an opportunity for users and providers of international data to meet and share their ideas on issues relating to international data research.

This half day event will include a presentation by Gareth McGuinness from the International Monetary Fund on 'Understanding the world economy using Principal Global Indicators and other international data', Toby Green from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development will tell 'The story behind the OECD's Your Better Life Index' and we will also hear NatCen speaking about the 'European Social Survey'.

The programme also includes two 'Meet the Researcher' sessions:

• The poster presentation session is an opportunity for researchers using international data to introduce their work on topics such as 'Are Oil Revenue Funds effective in oil rich countries?', 'The curse of tourism?', 'Openness, Economic Growth, and Human Development: Evidence from South Asia' and 'Impact of Green Energy Policies on Electricity Market: An Econometric Analysis'.

• The second session includes talks on the following subjects - 'The Yield Curve as a Predictor of Economic Performance in Asia', 'The Effects of Economic Reforms on Manufacturing Dualism: Evidence from India', 'Electricity Co-operation and Decarbonisation: The Role of Import and Export in CO2 Reduction' and 'A Comparison of the EU-15 Countries Based on the Stiglitz Report’s Recommendations'

This event is intended to appeal to policy makers, members of the academic community using the international databanks in their research and teaching, data librarians and producers of international data resources. The event is free and open to all but capacity is limited, so booking is essential.

On-line training in Research Data Management

2011-10-18T15:20:00.000+01:00

The Research Data Management Training, or MANTRA project has produced an open, online training course to help disseminate good practice in research data management at the University of Edinburgh and beyond.

What is it?

It is a non-credit, free online course which provides guidelines for good practice in research data management. It consists of interactive online units focused on key concepts of data management. They include video clips featuring senior academics talking about data management challenges. In addition there are practical exercises in handling data within four software analysis environments (SPSS, NVivo, R and ArcGIS), which learners can download and work through at their own pace.

Who is it for?

It is for PhD students, early career researchers, and all others who are planning a research project based on digital data. The course is an Open Educational Resource that may be freely used by anyone. It is available through an open license for rejigging, rebranding, and repurposing.

Who produced it?

The Data Library team at EDINA produced the materials over the course of the past year as part of the JISC Managing Research Data programme. They worked with the School of Social and Political Studies, the School of GeoSciences and the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology to target the resources towards their doctoral training programmes. The Data Library at the University of Edinburgh has been providing research data services to staff and students for over twenty-five years. The data handling software practicals were written by expert data analysts in each software domain. The online module was created using Xerte Online Toolkits, an open source authoring tool.

For more information, see the course website: http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra

Introduction to BHPS using Stata

2011-10-18T15:17:00.000+01:00

Date: 28th-29th November
Venue: Social Science Research Centre at the University of Essex campus, Colchester

This course is aimed at new users of the BHPS or those who have so far made use only of simpler aspects of the data. The underlying structure of the BHPS is complex, with various different data about individuals and the households in which they live across time. The BHPS team has tried to make this structure as transparent as possible through the way data is organised. However, even the number of different data sets can appear daunting. This course aims to guide the user through these apparent complexities, and ensure that they can effectively make use of as much of the data as they require for their own research projects.

The main focus is on the data reorganisation techniques required for different types of cross-sectional and longitudinal research, rather than the statistical techniques themselves, but it is informed by the ways in which data require to be organised for different statistical techniques.

Participants will learn about the way the BHPS is designed, which data are collected, how they are collected and how the data are structured and stored. By the end of the two day course, the participant will have a thorough knowledge of the BHPS, from survey design to data-set structure, and will have the tools to make the most of a rich, but complex, data set.

A basic working knowledge of Stata is assumed. For more information and to see course prerequisites please go to the website http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps/courses/stata-intro

Introduction to Understanding Society – the UK Household Longitudinal Study

2011-10-18T15:13:00.000+01:00

Date & time: November 29, 2011 13:00
Venue: Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.

To register to attend this lunchtime seminar, or for more details, please email Victoria Nolan vlnolan@essex.ac.uk. The seminar will be held in the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) seminar room (on the ground floor) – it is free of charge and a buffet lunch will be available from 13:00.

This lunchtime seminar will provide an essential overview of the Understanding Society survey and its content, data access, data structure and documentation. It will be of interest to anyone who is planning to access and use the new Understanding Society data for their research.

This seminar provides a fantastic opportunity to get to know the survey and the possibilities for research based on the Understanding Society data. It will be presented by Gundi Knies, a Senior Research Officer at ISER who has been closely involved with the Understanding Society project from the outset. This seminar is an opportunity not to be missed, to be one of the first to gain a detailed picture of the enormous research potential of this new dataset.

Understanding Society now includes the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) sample, thus extending the analysis and research possibilities. Understanding Society greatly improves the range of longitudinal analyses that can be carried out given its larger sample size and its in-built design features such as data linkages and inclusion of an ethnic minority boost sample. For researchers using the BHPS, there is an Introduction to BHPS using Stata course being held at the University of Essex on 28th and 29th November.

Call for Proposals - Kauffman Firm Survey Data Extension - Data Matching

2011-10-10T17:20:00.000+01:00

Deadline January 15, 2012

As the Kauffman Foundation nears the completion of its eight-year panel study on new firms in the United States, the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) www.kauffman.org/kfs, they are seeking interested scholars who would like to extend the core survey data in ways that do not increase the burden on survey respondents. While more than 6,000 variables are included in the confidential version of the KFS microdata, the Foundation recognizes that there are additional opportunities for research that become available by incorporating new sources of data to leverage the existing KFS survey information. Through this grant program we hope to accomplish the following:

* Expand the community of experts involved with the KFS to include scholars with expertise in natural language processing, web scraping, and related approaches;
* Create reusable infrastructure; and
* Use the prototype/demo infrastructure to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach-missingness, accuracy, utility-to expand our understanding of different approaches for matching to existing data sets.

Multiple projects are likely to be funded with individual project budgets up to $50,000 being preferred.

Full details available at www.kauffman.org/KFSProposals.

LFS/APS user meeting

2011-10-10T17:14:00.001+01:00

The Labour Force Survey/Annual Population Survey user meeting has been arranged for Tuesday 6 December 2011 at the Royal Statistical Society, London.

This meeting, organised by the Economic and Social Data Service, 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 morning will include updates from the Office for National Statistics and the afternoon will consist of research papers which used the survey/s.

To view the programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2011-12-06/

Housing and the Local Environment: Introductory guide to large-scale government survey data

2011-10-07T12:28:00.000+01:00

ESDS Government has produced a new guide, Housing and the Local Environment: Introductory guide to large-scale government survey data. This guide gives an overview of the large-scale government survey data available via the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) on the theme of ‘Housing and the Local Environment’. The information provided is aimed at researchers who want to use microdata (generally individual or household level data) from the surveys covered by ESDS Government to carry out their own analyses. The guide is available from www.esds.ac.uk/government/resources/themeguides.asp

Changes to Quarterly Labour Force Survey ID variables

2011-10-07T12:27:00.000+01:00

End User License data: http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/qlfs.asp

The new release of the QLFS data files for January-March 2011 contain new ID variables/numbers which are designed to improve the confidentiality of respondents, which has some impact on the way in which the data can be used. The new identifiers are:

CASENOP - ‘Case Identifier - pseudoanonymised’
HSERIALP - ‘Number uniquely identifies a household - pseudoanonymised’

These ID numbers are designed to permit users to link household members together, but not to link across waves to create their own longitudinal datasets (users who wish to do this should use the LFS longitudinal files). The household identifier (hserialp) is an identifier which starts at 1 and simply counts up. Common values of this variable across waves no longer indicate that the case is from the same household. The numbers are no longer based on administrative data, and many of these administrative variables have been removed for reasons of confidentiality. Accordingly, previous guidance on how to generate person and household identifiers from these administrative variables has been superceded. It should still be possible to combine datasets in order to increase sample size as variables indicating which wave of the survey the respondent is in and when the respondent entered are still present. However, it is no longer possible to check that individual cases have not been duplicated as a result of failures in the merge process. It is still possible to use the data to identify household membership using the hserialp variable. However, users are reminded that when undertaking household analysis the most suitable data for household level analysis or analyses which involve household context are the household LFS files. All future QLFS datasets will contain these two new identifier variables. A variable called QUOTAP is also available which is the ‘stint number where interview took place - pseudoanonymised’

QLFS April-June 2009-October-December 2010 - these data files contain a new ID number (IDREF) which preceded the new ID variables for the January-March 2011 dataset (see above). IDREF was designed to improve the confidentiality of respondents, which has some impact on the way in which the data can be used. IDREF does not allow linkage between quarters (nor do Casenop and HserialP – see notes above). Please note that there is no household identifier on these datasets.

QLFS 2001-2009 - there are no changes to the ID variables in these QLFS datafiles – they should contain the original QLFS identifier variables (caseno, add, quota etc).

Special Licence (SL) data: http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/qlfsSL.asp

All Special Licence QLFS datasets should still contain the original ID variables (caseno, add, quota etc) so they are not affected by the above changes.

Jobs at Luxembourg Income Study Organisation

2011-10-05T12:43:00.000+01:00

LIS, a non-profit cross-national data center located in Luxembourg, is seeking applications for two additional staff persons.

LIS provides access to household- and person-level microdata to researchers interested in cross-national comparisons of income, employment, and wealth. Our microdata are made available through two cross-national databases, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database and the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS) Database.

The positions involve harmonising and documenting microdata in the areas of income, labour, demographics, and wealth, as well as contributing to the conceptual framework of harmonising cross-national microdata. All staff also participate in LIS training and pedagogical activities.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references (with contact information). Send applications via email (admin@lisdatacenter.org), or via postal mail:

Caroline de Tombeur
LIS
17, rue des Pommiers
L-2343 Luxembourg

LUXEMBOURG

Required background: Applicants should have an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in the social sciences, economics, statistics or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying work experience may be accepted in place of an advanced degree.

Applicants should also have the following:

- substantial experience with microdata, especially producing or harmonising datasets
- substantial knowledge of a major statistical program, preferably Stata
- proficiency in English (the working language in the LIS office)

Priority will be given to applicants with work experience related to:
- income or consumption/expenditure data
- and/or labour market data
- and/or data on assets/wealth/debt
- and/or datasets from middle-income countries

Candidates with various levels of experience and seniority will be considered, and salary will be commensurate.

Review of applications will begin on 2 November, 2011. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled.

Change to General Lifestyle Survey - No more health questions

2011-10-03T10:42:00.000+01:00

From the Royal Statistical Society website. For more information and links see http://www.rssenews.org.uk/articles/20110929_3

Health Survey for England statistics will be inferior to General Lifestyle Survey says the UK Statistics Authority

The decision by the Health and Social Care Information Centre to cease its contribution towards the costs of the Office of National Statistics' (ONS) General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) and use the Health Survey for England as an alternative survey vehicle "will not produce statistics consistent with those previously available, or to the same quality", the UK Statistics Authority has told Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

In order to reduce expenditure by £300,000, the ONS will remove the questions on health and health determinants from the GLF from October 2011. Consequently, several long standing National Statistics series on smoking, drinking and the use of health services will end.

In its letter of acknowledgement to the Health Secretary (linked from RSS website), the Statistics Authority says it "will assess whatever new statistical series are created" in the place of these series in order to ensure that the standards of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics are met.

The letter explains the Authority's view "that the best way of collecting the statistics is the way in which they have until now been collected, via the GLF. Users of the existing GLF data have previously highlighted the importance of this source, citing its large sample size, the wide variety of variables it offers for explanatory analysis, and the ability to compare data across Great Britain. Although the Health Survey for England includes many of the health related questions from the GLF, it has a substantially smaller sample size, does not allow country level comparisons and does not include such a wide variety of variables for explanatory analysis."

British Crime Survey Consultation - Intimate Personal Violence questions

2011-09-20T12:10:00.000+01:00

Last year the Home Office ran a split sample experiment to trial an alternative wording of questions relating to intimate personal violence (IPV). Results and analysis of the experiment can be found in the Home Office publication “Analysis of the 2010/11 British Crime Survey intimate personal violence split-sample experiment” available on the Home Office Website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/analysis-bcs-ipv-2011

The Home Office is currently in the process of a consultation regarding whether to proceed with the new questions, which seem to give us higher affirmative response rates, or the old questions, which would provide us with a longer term time series comparison.

Should you have any response to this consultation, please read the above linked document and pass your comments along with some details of your background interest to ravi.mulchandani@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

Child Benefit National and Official Statistics publications Consultation - two weeks left

2011-09-20T11:30:00.000+01:00

HM Revenue & Customs is carrying out a formal review of their Child Benefit National and Official Statistics publications (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/menu.htm ). HMRC are carrying out the consultation to ensure the scope, format and content of their statistics remain suitable for the needs of users.

The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/child_benefit

HMRC would be grateful if you could spend 5-10 minutes of your time to provide them with the information above by completing the short questionnaire. The results will be published but all results and all views will be completely anonymous. The deadline for reply is 30th September.

Beyond 2011 Census programme

2011-09-20T11:16:00.000+01:00

You may be aware that the UK Statistics Authority has stated that the 2011 Census is likely to be the last of its kind in the UK.

The ‘Beyond 2011’ Programme has been established by the Office for National Statistics to take a fresh look at different approaches that will meet future user needs as an alternative to running a Census in 2021. This work, which covers England and Wales, has the potential to completely change the way we produce population and socio-demographic statistics for decades to come.

If you are interested in receiving updates on the progress of the Beyond 2011 Programme, or being involved in the consultation process which will run from October to December 2011, please email beyond2011@ons.gsi.gov.uk.

2011 Census design workshops

2011-09-20T10:49:00.000+01:00

To date, consultations on the design of 2011 Census Outputs have concentrated on the main statistical series of outputs. The 2011 Census design team are now planning to hold four workshops on more specialised products and services. These are:

Small populations - 24th October 2011
Analytical products - 25th October 2011
Origin and Destination outputs - 26th October 2011
Microdata - 14th November 2011

For more information, or if you interested in attending one or more of the events, please see:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/the-2011-census/census-consultations/planned-events/index.html

Alternatively you can email: census.customerservices@ons.gsi.gov.uk

2011 Census homepage :-
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html

2011 Census News and Events
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/the-2011-census/news-and-events/index.html

Variable Labels for EU-SILC

2011-09-16T15:35:00.000+01:00

Programmes to format variable labels in Stata for the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions for both cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets for 2004-2008 have been made available on the RLAB data website http://rlab.lse.ac.uk/itsupport/data/rlabdata/default.asp

Millenium Cohort Survey 6 Consultation - Age 14 Sweep

2011-09-16T15:30:00.000+01:00

7th October 2011, 10 am – 5 pm
Woburn House Conference Centre, 20 Tavistock Square. London, WC1H 9HQ

In 2015 the sixth wave of the Millenium Cohort Study will be carried out. The CLS would like to get your views on the priorities and possibilities for what data should be collected from and about the Study children at that point, when they will be aged around 14 years.

For more information on the consultation and why CLS think this is a particularly important point to collect as wide a range of views as possible, not only on what should be collected, but also where (e.g. at home or elsewhere), how (e.g. by personal interview, direct measures and assessments, web self-completion), and who from (e.g. Study members, their parents, others) please see the note on the CLS website http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/events.asp?section=000100010004&item=1129

Input from participants will be preceded by expert overviews from speakers including Paul Gregg, Jane Elliott and Mark Peters.

Whether or not you have actively used the Millennium Cohort Study previously, the study team would value your input.

Registration is free: Please contact Richard Bull (R.Bull@ioe.ac.uk), stating your first and second preference from the themes listed below.

• Education and aspirations
• Attitudes and activities
• Well-being: health and happiness
• Friends and networks
• Risk-taking and victimisation
• Biomeasures

INSPIRE for the social sciences workshop

2011-09-14T16:12:00.000+01:00

when: 7 October 2011
where: UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester.

The UK Data Archive and EDINA are hosting a workshop on the European INSPIRE Directive and how this directive matters for the social sciences.

The aim is to bring together academics, data providers and research councils to share what various people are currently doing regarding the INSPIRE Directive - in particular the Annex III data specifications - and to provide a platform to discuss what needs to be done in the near future.

The INSPIRE Directive aims to create an EU spatial data infrastructure to enable the sharing of environmental spatial data among public sector organisations and facilitate public access to spatial information across Europe. This will benefit the development and monitoring of environmental policy and practice in all Member States and across the European Community. Annex III data themes include social sciences domain data on human health and safety, utility and government services, and population distribution and demography.

For further details and to register, please visit http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2951

This workshop is co-ordinated by the JISC-funded geospatial projects U•Geo and GECO.

The School Workforce Census – Opportunities for Analysis

2011-09-07T16:09:00.000+01:00

Tuesday, 27 September 2011, 5pm, at the Royal Statistical Society

The first full collection of the School Workforce Census (SWF) took place in November 2010; the Department for Education subsequently published data from this new source in April 2011. The SWF has been designed to be a single, annual exercise that collects detailed individual level information on school workforce members. Schools and local authorities extract the data from their own management information systems and share this with the Department. This new census has been designed to replace several existing collections and has resulted in more complete data of higher quality on the school workforce.

Officials from the DfE will discuss the issues and challenges involved in moving to this single data collection. Discussion will then turn to analyses undertaken on the SWF census for policy development and the scope for the wider research and statistical community to use this data. In particular, we will present a discussion of the way the new data complement established sources such as Vactrack to answer questions on how many teachers should be trained and how much should be spent on programmes such as the National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Tanya McCormack (Department for Education)
Louise Skelton (Department for Education)
John Howson (DataforEducation.info)

Attendance is free but pre-registration is encouraged. Meeting contact: Charles Lound (charles.lound@ons.gov.uk). For a map and directions see www.rss.org.uk/findus. We expect the meeting will finish by 6:30pm.

Call for Papers: Minimising and Handling Non-response in Sample Surveys

2011-09-01T16:24:00.000+01:00

Iers College (Irish College), Leuven, Belgium
Thursday 8 and Friday 9 December 2011

There is a large amount of research on the topic of non-response in sample surveys, from a design as well as from an analysis point of view. This seminar, organised by Jaak Billiet and Gert Molenberghs focuses on practical measures, classical as well as innovative, to address such non-response.

The seminar will host a maximum of 25 participants and we invite the submission of abstracts for presentations addressing the above topics. Abstracts (of no more than 250 words) must be submitted no later than 30 September, 2011.

There is no fee for attending the seminar and participants’ accommodation and subsistence expenses will be covered by the QMSS 2 programme, provided that they come from or are working in one of the 19 countries that support the QMSS 2 programme.

Further details are available from the QMSS 2 website:

http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/qmss/seminars/2011-12-08/call.shtml

Ethnic Minorities Biritish Election Study - a Research Workshop

2011-08-25T16:37:00.000+01:00

Date: 19th September 2011
Venue: Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

This ESRC sponsored research workshop is designed as an introduction to the new major dataset on political attitudes, behaviour and integration of ethnic minorities in Britain: Ethnic Minorities British Election Study 2010. This major new survey has been conducted following the last general election in May 2010 and was in the field simultaneously with the main British Election Study, with which it shares a core common questionnaire. As such, it is the largest and the only up to date source of comparison of political attitudes of British ethnic minorities with the white majority.

The workshop is designed specially to encourage and enable graduate students to use this data in their research. It is open to anyone with a research interest in ethnicity, the integration of ethnic minorities and the political attitudes of British Muslims, although graduate students will have priority if space is limited. The workshop will introduce the data, provide expert advice on the best ways to use and analyse it, and there will be an opportunity for the students to obtain expert feedback on their own research projects.

The event is free to attend and a small number of bursaries will be available to graduate students to cover travel costs to Manchester. This will be on a first come-first served basis.

Programme includes:

Introduction to EMBES - Prof Anthony Heath
How to analyse EMBES - Dr Stephen Fisher
Questions EMBES has already helped to answer - Dr Maria Sobolewska

Please e-mail Alexandra.mandich@manchester.ac.uk to register your attendance and get further details of the workshop. Please write on that e-mail, your Dept/ Course/ Year/ Dissertation Topic, and any diet restrictions. Alternatively please provide details of your organisation or company, and your interest in this subject area.

Consultation on Tax Credits and HMRC Official Statistics

2011-08-22T14:36:00.000+01:00

HM Revenue & Customs are carrying out a formal review of our Tax Credits National and Official Statistics publications (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm).

Your views will enable HMRC to evaluate whether any changes are needed to their publications. They would like to know if other information would be useful to their users that is not currently available, or whether there are any areas of the statistics which you feel are irrelevant. There may also be issues with the format of the tables that need to be addressed, or presentational amendments that could be useful.

The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tax_credits

The survey should take 5-10 minutes of your time. The results will be published but all results and all views will be completely anonymous. The deadline for reply is 31st August.

Consultation on Statistics on Poverty

2011-08-22T14:33:00.000+01:00

The UK Statistics Authority is currently assessing the following Statistics on Poverty, Benefit Take-Up and Household Resources produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP):

* Households Below Average Income;
* Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up;
* Family Resources Survey; and
* The Pensioners' Incomes Series

They would like to hear from any current and potential users of these statistics. Meeting users' needs is at the heart of the Code of Practice, and collecting user views is an important part of the assessment process.

Please see http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/assessment/current-assessments/statistics-on-poverty--benefit-take-up-and-household-resources.html for more information.

Migration Data: Information and Resources

2011-07-21T15:01:00.000+01:00

The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford has developed a webpage providing 'user-friendly access to analysis of data on migrants and migration issues.

The site includes ready made charts and maps on migration in the UK, and (possibly of more interest to RLAB staff) a description of key data sources and their limitations.

http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/data-and-resources

Census 2011 Latest News

2011-06-28T12:12:00.000+01:00

Over the past two years extensive consultations have taken place defining a range of 2011 Census products and services that will meet the needs of users; the most recent of which closed in April 2011. It was proposed in January 2011 that following this consultation a timetable for the release of outputs would be made available in May/June 2011. Whilst plans for Census outputs are progressing well, ONS need to ensure that any planned release timetable for the 2011 Census is both accurate and achievable. As a result a full release timetable will now be issued alongside a 2011 Census Prospectus in early 2012. In the meantime ONS will provide an agreed running order for 2011 Census outputs in July.

For further information on the release of information relating census outputs see :- http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/produce-deliver-data/2011-census-outputs/index.html

View the latest news on the 2011 Census :- http://2011.census.gov.uk/
View further information regarding the background of the 2011 Census :- http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/index.html

ESDS International Seventh Annual Conference 2011 - Understanding the world: evidence and impact

2011-06-23T10:40:00.000+01:00

***CALL FOR PRESENTERS***

Date: Monday 28 November 2011
Venue: Institute of Materials, London.

The theme of the 7th ESDS International Annual conference is 'Understanding the world: evidence and impact' and we are now looking for UK academics who have used ESDS International data to present their research. We would welcome submissions on the key issues and topics, set out in the Economic and Social Research Councils (ESRC's) strategic priorities (see

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/key-issues-and-topics.aspx):

• Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
• Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
• Vibrant and Fair Society

Last years submissions included research on ‘Job insecurity and the local economic climate across Europe’, ‘World Electricity Cooperation' and ‘The Dynamic of Institutions and Economic Growth: The Asian Experience'.

Other speakers at the conference will include representatives from Inter Governmental Organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Energy Agency and other publishers of international data. See our Annual Conference page at http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/conf.asp for links to previous conference programmes, reports and proceedings.

There is no need to write a paper specifically for the conference but any papers submitted will be published on the ESDS International website as conference proceedings. If you are interested, please send a title and brief abstract (max 200 words) to ESDS International at international@esds.ac.uk by the 31st August 2011.

Reasonable UK travel costs (i.e. standard class rail travel) for academic speakers will be reimbursed but we are unable to cover accommodation costs.

As a specialist data service of the ESRC/JISC funded Economic and Social Data Service, ESDS International provides the UK academic community with free access to the high quality socio-economic data sets produced by inter-governmental organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and the World Bank. We also help users to locate and acquire international micro-level datasets, such as Eurobarometer, ISSP and the World Values Surveys.

For further information on the conference please contact the ESDS International Helpdesk at international@esds.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)161 275 6109.

Resource on scales/instruments and harmonised questions used in UK surveys

2011-06-16T16:39:00.000+01:00

The Survey Question Bank has recently added a resource on scales/instruments used in UK surveys: http://www.surveynet.ac.uk/sqb/scales/introduction.asp

and a resource promoting the Office for National Statistics's harmonised questions: http://www.surveynet.ac.uk/sqb/harmonisation/introduction.asp.

Funding to investigate the feasibility of a rolling census.

2011-06-16T16:27:00.000+01:00

ESRC and ONS are inviting applications to investigate the feasibility of implementing a Rolling Census to provide population and wider socio-demographic statistics in the UK. Further information about the proposed study is currently being advertised on the ESRC website:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/RCSS.aspx

Managing and Sharing Data: Best Practice for Researchers

2011-06-08T15:31:00.000+01:00

To support researchers in producing high quality research data for long-term use, the UK Data Archive has revised and expanded its popular and highly cited Managing and Sharing Data: best practice for researchers, first published in 2009.

The new third edition is 36 pages covering:

* why and how to share research data
* data management planning and costs
* formatting data
* storing data
* ethics and consent issues
* copyright strategies

These are augmented with a list of third-party references, 19 case studies that demonstrate best practice examples and a checklist to guide data management planning. A suite of more detailed online information on the UK Data Archive website complements this guide.

Like previous editions, the revised guide is free of charge to higher education researchers in the UK thanks to funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) Programme and the UK Data Archive. JISC and Relu have joined the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in officially endorsing the guide.

The guide is available online in PDF format http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/2894/managingsharing.pdf. Printed copies can be requested from comms@data-archive.ac.uk

Invitation to tender: Economic impact evaluation of ESDS

2011-06-08T15:14:00.000+01:00

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is seeking to commission an exploratory evaluation study to assess the economic impact and benefits of its main research data infrastructure, the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS). This study is also intended to further develop the ESRC's approach to economic impact evaluation.

The purpose of the evaluation will be to identify and assess economic impact by:

• applying economic valuation techniques where appropriate to derive a quantitative estimate of the economic benefits of ESDS data and services
• presenting the results of the economic assessment within the context of a broader qualitative analysis of the benefits of the ESDS
• conducting case studies of the impact generated by research based on ESDS data
• reflecting on the results and identifying best practice and lessons for:
o maximising the benefits from research data infrastructure investments and
o developing approaches for future economic impact evaluations

Further details and a copy of the full specification are available from Jonathan Smith at the Research Councils UK Shared Services Centre Ltd.: Jonathan.Smith@ssc.rcuk.ac.uk, 01235 446394

Reference PS110004
Submission deadline is Tuesday 14 June 2011 at 11.00am

Workshop on Respondent Driven Sampling

2011-06-08T11:45:00.000+01:00

http://www.norface-migration.org/eventdetail.php?id=57

Date and Venue: 16 & 17 June, Institute of Education, London

The purpose of this conference is to bring together statisticians and survey methodologists developing Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) with researchers using the method to survey immigrants. RDS utilizes social networks to find, survey, and develop inference on "hidden populations" like sex workers, drug users, and migrant workers. The method was introduced in 1997 and has since become widely used, yet RDS is often incorrectly implemented and the most recent statistical developments can take years to come into practice. Bringing together researchers using RDS methodology with leading statisticians and survey methodologists will further the aims of all three, by informing theory with practice and practice with the latest developments in statistical and methodological theory. The conference will also inform future applications of the method on migrant populations.

An international group of invited speakers include: Douglas Heckathorn, Simon Frost, Krista Gile, Matthew Salganik, Richard White, Peter Muhlau, Lisa Johnston, Andrew Cleary, Tetiana Saliuk, Guri Tyldum and Renee Luthra.

Registration: The workshop is free to researchers interested in RDS methodology, but space is limited. If you would like to attend, please email Renee Luthra: rrluthra@essex.ac.uk

This seminar has been organised under the auspices of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) and the UK Longitudinal Studies Centre (ULSC). Support for the conference is also provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) (award no. RES-518-28-001), and the Norface Migration Research Programme.

Review of HMRC Tax Credits Publications

2011-06-02T15:49:00.000+01:00

HM Revenue & Customs are carrying out a formal review of our Tax Credits National and Official Statistics publications (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm ).

The responses will help them to evaluate whether any changes are needed to the publications. HMRC would like to know if other information would be useful that is not currently available, or whether there are any areas of the statistics which you feel are irrelevant. There may also be issues with the format of the tables that need to be addressed, or presentational amendments that could be useful.

The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tax_credits

The survey will take 5-10 minutes, and the results will be published but all results and all views will be completely anonymous. The deadline for reply is 31st August.

UK Census 2011 - Specification for the 2011 SARS

2011-06-02T15:44:00.000+01:00

The specifications for the 2011 Sample of Anonymised Records have now been sent to the Census Offices and are available on the SARs website at www.ccsr.ac.uk/sars/2011/

New Geospatial Resource Centre

2011-05-31T16:20:00.000+01:00

The Geospatial Data Preservation Resource Center, is a website aiming to help those responsible for producing and managing geospatial data learn about the latest approaches and tools available to facilitate long-term geospatial data preservation and access:

http://geopreservation.org/

The Web site provides descriptions and links for a variety of relevant resources, including education and training modules, useful tools and software, information on policies and standards for preserving geospatial data, and examples of successful preservation and associated benefits.

This first release of the Web site, which CIESIN will be enhancing over the next year, was developed as an element of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) of the Library of Congress. CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, is a unit of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, based at the Lamont campus in Palisades, New York.

Looking after your research data: a workshop for trainers

2011-05-19T14:27:00.001+01:00

Date: 22-23 September 2011 Location: UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester

This workshop, hosted by the UK Data Archive, will showcase outputs from the Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) project Data Management and Sharing for Researchers Training.

The workshop is aimed at people who are tasked with training or teaching researchers - at all levels - in how to look after social research data, specifically UK-based lecturers, tutors, graduate teaching assistants and research support staff in universities, colleges and research organisations.

Over one and a half days, participants will work through a series of training modules covering the seven key areas of data management identified by the UK Data Archive.

The workshop is free as it is sponsored by the RDI project. We are also offering a limited number of travel and accommodation bursaries.

For further details, including programme and booking form, see

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2867

Data Management Costing Tool

2011-05-17T12:12:00.000+01:00

The UK Data Archive has recently developed an activity-based data management costing tool for the social sciences. The pilot version has been made available for testing, and your feedback would be appreciated.

The tool and background information on how it was developed are available at: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/planning-for-sharing/costing

The UKDA is interested to know how useful and practical this simple tool would be for researchers and data managers when preparing research applications and/or data management plans. We also want your view on the tool's approach to costing data management, and suggestions for improvements and additions.

Feedback and comments can be sent to datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk until 20 May 2011.

The tool's approach is to measure the additional costs – above standard research procedures and practices – that are needed to make research data shareable beyond the primary research team. The tool is based on identifying all applicable data management activities and steps required to make data shareable, based on a data management checklist, then costing each activity in terms of people’s time or physical resources needed such as hardware or software.

The tool was developed as part of the Data Management Planning for ESRC Research Data-rich Investments project (DMP-ESRC), in collaboration with various researchers.

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents ... American FactFinder and Census 2010

2011-05-12T15:50:00.000+01:00

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

In this third session we will be getting to know the new American FactFinder. The U.S. Census Bureau recently debuted a new interface for American FactFinder, its online database for distributing all data from its surveys. While the “legacy” interface is still available, it will be retired in September and the new interface will be the only option. Because the new interface is significantly different from the legacy one, users will want to begin familiarizing themselves with how it works. Enhancements will be made throughout the summer, so participants should expect a report on how it works right now and quirks to watch out for.

We will meet together for Session #3, online on Thursday, June 9, 2011 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (EDT). Please RSVP for the Session by June 8 at 5:00 pm using this link: http://tinyurl.com/grs-session3

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Elluminate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page.

Upcoming Book: Numeric Data Services and Sources for the General Reference Librarian

2011-05-11T12:32:00.000+01:00

The proliferation of online access to social science statistical and numeric data sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau’s American FactFinder, has lead to an increased interest in supporting these sources in academic libraries. Many large libraries have been able to devote staff to data services for years. Recently smaller academic libraries have recognized the need to provide numeric data services and support. This guidebook serves as a primer to developing and supporting social science statistical and numeric data sources in the academic library. It provides strategies for the establishment of data services and offers short descriptions of the essential sources of free and commercial social science statistical and numeric data. Finally, it discusses the future of numeric data services, including the integration of statistics and data into library instruction and the use of Web 2.0 tools to visualize data.

Readership: General reference librarians in small to medium-sized academic libraries, especially those working with Social Science, Government Information, or Business reference, as well as LIS graduate classes on Social Science, Data Services, or Government Documents Reference.

Authors: Lynda Kellam, Katharin Peter
Due out next month http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=2003&ChandosTitle=1

Please note this book is primarily aimed at US readers.

Extending survey measures to children: Experience from the British Crime Survey

2011-05-11T12:21:00.000+01:00

10 May 2011, 5.00pm, at the Royal Statistical Society (Tea from 4.30pm)

The British Crime Survey is a sample survey of the population resident in households in England and Wales. It has been running for 30 years but until recently has been restricted to adults. Since January 2009 its coverage has been significantly extended to include children aged 10-15 years.

Development of survey measures – Katherine Grant, TNS-BMRB

Prior to extending the survey to children, TNS-BMRB carried out an extensive period of developing and testing. This included qualitative workshops with children to explore their experience and understanding of crime; cognitive testing and piloting of questions and an extended split-sample field trial. Lessons learned from this work will be shared and their implications discussed.

Estimating the levels of crime experienced by children – John Flatley

Applying existing legal definitions of offences to those incidents reported by children can result in minor incidents that are normal within the context of childhood behaviour and development being categorised as criminal. Conversely, too narrow a classification could omit incidents which while not being viewed as serious by some may inflict significant harm on victims. These issues are discussed together with options for presenting statistics which have been subject to a public consultation.

Attendance is free but pre-registration is recommended. You can register by email: meetings@rss.org.uk or by phone (020) 7638 8998. For a map and directions see www.rss.org.uk/findus . For further information contact John Flatley via john.flatley@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk .

How to set up and run a data service: the challenges of social science data

2011-05-11T10:12:00.000+01:00

13th-14th October
UK Data Archive, Essex University

A once-a-year opportunity for data archivists to go behind the scenes and learn first hand from specialists at the UK Data Archive. Over two days participants will learn about the strategies and practices used in the Archive's daily work, with a focus on storing and sharing social science data, including microdata, aggregate, qualitative and historical data.

The Archive has over 40 years experience in selecting, ingesting, curating and providing access to data. We are a designated Place of Deposit for The National Archives and are internationally acknowledged experts in this field.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) will be supporting three fully funded scholarships to attend this workshop.

Further details including programme and booking: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2864

New Additions to RLAB data Library

2011-05-05T13:35:00.000+01:00

The British Household Panel Survey waves 1-18 has been added to the library.
The data for Understanding Society, Wave 1, Year 1, 2009 are now available in the library.

To access these data RLAB members should set up an 'end user license' with ESDS and contact the RLAB data manager for access.

For researchers who are not members of RLAB, these data are available for free for non-commercial research following registration with the Economic and Social Data Service.

ESDS     http://www.esds.ac.uk/
BHPS    http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/access/bhps/L33196.asp
USOC    http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/access/usoc/L33423.asp

Two-day course on questionnaire design and measurement

2011-05-03T09:54:00.000+01:00

This is a two-day course on questionnaire design and measurement, taught by Professor Jon A. Krosnick (Stanford University), running 5th and 6th of May at the LSE. The course is organized by the LSE’s Methodology Institute, Ipsos-MORI and the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex.

Further details can be found at: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/methodologyInstitute/newsEvents/Krosnick.aspx

The two-day course is free for LSE students and staff, £100 for non-LSE students, £200 for the public sector (including non-LSE University staff) and £400 for the private-sector.

Applications can be made at: https://eshop.lse.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&prodid=71&deptid=212&catid=40

Surveys and questionnaires are a common way of gathering data in the social sciences. The structuring, wording and ordering of questions has traditionally been viewed as an art, not a science, best guided by intuition. But in recent years, it has become clear that this is an antiquated and even dangerous view that does not reflect the accumulation of knowledge throughout the social sciences about effective question-asking. Intuition often leads us astray in the questionnaire design field, as becomes clear when putting intuitions to the test via scientific evaluation. A large body of relevant scientific studies has now accumulated, and when taken together, the findings point to a series of formal rules for how best to design questions. Yet the vast majority of contemporary questionnaire design fails to follow these rules, because they are not yet widely understood. During the past 25 years, Jon Krosnick has been gathering up the huge body of evidence on optimal questionnaire design for this forthcoming book, The Handbook of Questionnaire Design. In this course, Dr. Krosnick will review the contents of the first half of the book.

The two-day course educates participants about the optimal techniques for questionnaire design, for guarding against measurement artifacts, and for analyzing data in order to overcome the biasing impact of such artifacts. The course will teach participants a new way of thinking about questionnaire design, rooted in psychology. By gaining insight into how respondents approach their tasks of interpreting questions, searching their memories for information, integrating that information into judgments, and expressing those judgments in words, workshop participants will begin to develop skills that will help them to mange design issues for which there are not yet formal rules. In addition to helping participants to design better questionnaires, the two-day course will also equip analysts of questionnaire data to look from a new perspective as they evaluate the meaning of their findings, knowing how measurement artifacts can lead them astray.

First Understanding Sociey Conference Announced

2011-04-19T15:13:00.000+01:00

The Institute for Socio Economic Research have announced the first Understanding Society/BHPS conference.

Date: Thursday June 30th- Friday July 1st
Venue: University of Essex

The conference will showcase early findings from Understanding Society, and other longitudinal studies such as the well-established British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), now part of Understanding Society.

For more information and to register, please go to http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/understanding-society-bhps-conference-2011/

JISC Rights and Repositories Programme Meeting 2008 - report

2011-04-19T12:32:00.001+01:00

Following a request I am re-posting a blog I wrote for the DataShare Project blog http://www.disc-uk.org/datashare.html on a JISC Rights and Repositories Programme Meeting that I attended for the project in London on 05/09/2008.

The meeting primarily covered issues of intellectual property and copyright for people considering establishing instititional repositories.
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OPENING SESSION

The opening speaker stressed that IPR should be a central concern of any repository manager, that ‘IPR needs to be viewed as an essential part of individual academic integrity and institutional quality control’.

The speaker stated that ‘confusion, lack of awareness, poor practice, contradictory policy and risk aversion currently dominate thinking about this subject at all levels – particularly amongst senior management’, and that most practices reflect ‘pre-digital attitudes to publishing’. The speaker pointed out that sorting out IPR problems acts as a ‘lightening conductor’ to highlight issues of ownership, power, control and status that might not have been transparently and explicitly dealt with by the institution before.

The speaker then detailed some of the experiences of Jorum, a JISC-sponsored online repository for learning and teaching resources, gave an outline of the Jorum 3-tier licensing structure [JorumOpen, JorumEductionUK, and JorumPlus], and showed two slides on the reasons for and implications of open access.

Though the problems with institutional management of IPR were discussed and highlighted, the only strategy suggested for communicating with or influencing senior staff to improve management of IPR was that getting senior management ‘to sign things focuses their minds’.

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

OVERVIEW OF LEGAL LANDSCAPE

The speaker gave a very good outline of the legal environment in relation to IPR and copyright.

The presentation outlined various kinds of rights that repository developers may have to consider including patents, trade marks, designs, trade secrets/confidential information, and copyrights and related rights, including database rights, performers’ rights (applies to lectures) and moral rights.

Copyright ‘protects the skill and labour expended in the creation of something new’, is automatic and ‘does not require registration’. The © symbol is not necessary for an output to be under copyright (though its inclusion does remind the user).

Database rights protect against copying without permission. Provided ‘the collection and verification of the contents of a database involved significant resources, protection is given’. ‘Arguably most repositories will enjoy both database rights and copyright’.

Major issues to be considered by repository managers include

- Who owns the rights to materials being added? This can be difficult as institutional positions are not always clear, and ownership of academic output may sometimes need to be clarified e.g. does the author, or the employing institution own the IPR?

- Have rights been licensed or transferred to the repository? If not, does the repository have the right to hold/redistribute the materials?

- What is the policy for orphan works?

Licenses to be aware of include Open Source software licenses, Creative Commons (Creative Archive, Science Commons) licences, CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) or other RRO (Reproduction Rights Organisation) licenses.

The remainder of the presentation outlined possible future changes to the law (Gowers Review, proposed EU extension to term of sound recordings, EU review of copyright law).

Recommended changes of note from Gowers report include

- Expanding Educational Exceptions to copyright to include some off-site activities (currently exceptions restricted to acts carried out on-site at an educational establishment).

- Educational Exceptions should be media independent

- Expanding Library Privilege to allow more copies to be kept for preservation purposes, and more types of material to be preserved (including sound recordings, films etc).

- Expanding Library Privilege to museums and galleries.

The presenter also highlighted an EU draft directive on public sector information, which should it become law, would mean all documents created and published by a university would have to be made available for public sector exploitation at a minimal cost.

RIGHTS RELATED ISSUES WITH ETHOS

Ethosnet is a single point of access to UK electronic theses in collaboration with the British Library.

Ethosnet has taken the decision to make electronic theses available without author permission, creating an opt-out rather than an opt-in service. This necessitates a robust ‘take down policy’.

Ethos is copying the Jorum ‘take down policy’ which removes publications and output but leaves the metadata and citation in place.

http://www.ethos.ac.uk/

CASE STUDY OF LICENSING IN PRIMO

A very interesting presentation on the complexity of licensing content for practice based music research.

I don’t think DataShare will be concerned with resources of this kind so I will not elaborate (Robin etc. correct me if I’m wrong). An overview of the presentation can be found here

http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2008/09/rights-and-repositories-licensing-content-for-primo.html

An interesting recommendation was made, that metadata be used to keep track of when copyright expires.

http://primo.sas.ac.uk/eprints/

RESHAPING THE CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS OF COPYRIGHT

This session highlighted the importance of taking IPR issues into consideration from the beginning of any project. In particular the speaker recommended an IPR audit in the budget plan at the start of a project, particularly those where content will be created.

Recommendations include

- Each project has a nominated person responsible for IPR issues

- All materials and communications about IPR and rights issues to be archived and preserved.

- A thorough understanding of the difference between ownership and licensing: ‘assignment’ and ‘license’.

- Adaptation of the ‘creative commons’ license.

The Jorum experience is that ownership should remain with the author/creator and repositories should secure licenses, and that these licenses should be in perpetuity.

John Casey recommended links

JISC template for consortium agreements for IPR

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/proj_manguide/projectplanning/partners.aspx

Intellectual property rights in e-learning programmes: good practice guidance for senior managers

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2006/06_20

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in networked e-learning: a beginner’s guide for content developers

http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/publications/johncasey_1.htm

Managing IPR in digital learning materials: a development pack for institutional repositories. http://trustdr.ulster.ac.uk/outputs.php (this link is now broken, an abstract is available here, but not the full document http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/news/fullstory.php?id=110)

Eduserv online copyright toolkit http://copyrighttoolkit.com/index.html

RISK MANAGEMENT

Having arrived in the second half of the risk management session the discussion concerned the necessity of a robust take down policy.

A robust take down policy is a significant step towards protecting a repository from charges of breach of copyright. Things to consider in this policy include how to ensure a rapid removal of problematic objects, in particular during periods when staff are unlikely to be in the office e.g. Christmas; and how to verify that the complainant does actually have copyright of the material.

OTHER LINKS RECOMMENDED DURING MEETING

JISC digital repositories programme
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/programme_digital_repositories.aspx

JISC legal http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/

JISC CAMEL (Collaborative Approaches to Management in E-Learning)
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/camel

Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/

Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute
www.qmipri.org/index.hmtl

Web 2.0 rights project http://www.web2rights.org.uk/

Government consultation on reducing 'Red Tape' ie. regulation

2011-04-15T13:28:00.000+01:00

The government is undertaking a consultation aimed at reducing ‘red tape’. The consultation asks ‘which regulations are working and which are not; what should be scrapped, what should be saved and what should be simplified’.

Areas under consultation include Pensions, Employment, Equality, as well as Environment, Health and Safety and industry specific regulations.

Questions include:
Should the Equality Act 2010 be scrapped altogether?

Should the 50 regulations that relate to pension protection be merged with existing regulations?

How can employment laws be improved?

For more information and to leave your comments please see the RED TAPE CHALLENGE website http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ or search for ‘red tape challenge’

Eurostat microdata now free

2011-04-14T10:55:00.000+01:00

As of the 1st April 2011 Eurostat have decided to stop charging for their microdata resources. Anonymised versions of the EU Labour Force Survey, the Survey of Income and Living Conditions, the Community Innovation Statistics, the Structure of Earnings Survey and the Adult Education Survey are now available for free via approved research contracts. It appears that charges to access to detailed microdata via the Eurostat SAFE centre in Luxembourg have also been dropped, however I cannot confirm this at the moment.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/microdata/introduction

ONS Consultation - future of NOMIS

2011-04-14T10:41:00.000+01:00

ONS is proposing an alternative to NOMIS for access to labour market data https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/Default.asp

If you use NOMIS, or plan to use it in the future please have a look at this consultation. It seems that there will be a lot less flexibility in the range of outputs, in particular for geographical analysis. The ONS are asking for researchers to let them know how they would like the data to be presented and which breakdowns are of use to them. It is important you make a case for the data you need as once these categories and breakdowns have been decided on they will not change.

For more information and to for an list of individual datasets and how they will be affected please see https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/557.aspx?Session_GUID=&

Responses should be sent by 20 May 2011 to Bob.Watson@ons.gov.uk

End of General Lifestyle Survey? Consultation

2011-04-05T11:34:00.000+01:00

There will be changes made to the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) due to the decision to source EU-SILC data from the Family Resources Survey. The ONS propose merging the GLF with the opinions survey. If you use GLF and are concerned about changes, please see more detail below, and consider responding to the consultation.

Summary

2011: The GLF health, health determinants and use of health services question blocks will be removed or reduced in 2011 if the NHS Information Centre withdraws funding.
2012: Subject to the results of a public consultation, the GLF will cease to exist in its current format and will be replaced with a new combined Opinions / GLF survey.

ONS presentation at GLF User Meeting, March 2011

From 2012, the European Union requirement for Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) will be met using the Family Resource Survey (FRS) for respondents in their first year (the cross-sectional component) and a new telephone based survey for respondents in their second to fourth year (the longitudinal component). Currently, the EU-SILC requirement is met by the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF). The move from the GLF to the FRS will result in significant benefits in terms of cost savings and greater harmonisation between poverty indicators used by the UK and the EU.

EU-SILC covers housing, employment, income, state benefits, material deprivation and general health. Therefore, after 2011, the GLF will not need to collect these topics for the EU requirement. This provides an opportunity to review the GLF data collection with respect to existing and future data needs. ONS is currently consulting on this and specifically, its proposal to stop the existing longitudinal GLF survey and to replace it with a new cross-sectional survey, which would be a combination of the ONS Opinions and GLF surveys. The Opinions survey has many similarities with the GLF, in terms of the sample design, sample size and data collection methodology.

As part of the ongoing consultation, the ONS would welcome comments from GLF users about the combinations of variables that they need in order to conduct their research. ONS would also welcome comments from users about how their data requirements might be met using a new Opinions / GLF Survey or through existing sources. For example, ONS requests users’ input on the content and design of a new survey.

The NHS Information Centre has put forward a proposal to cancel its funding of the health, health determinants and use of health services questions on the GLF from Apr 2011 onwards because of budget reductions. If this proposal is accepted questions that cover these topics will be removed later this year.

Given this new information, you may wish to reply to the GLF consultation document (even if you've already done so previously): www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/open-consultations/eusilc-integration-into-frs/

Longitudinal studies: lessons for research and policy

2011-04-05T11:25:00.000+01:00

Date: 10 May 2011, 10.00-16.45
Location: British Library Conference Centre

Information and booking form: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2770

The day will focus on longitudinal data sources. This event is organised in conjunction with the UK Data Archive and Longview, and will give you an opportunity to hear talks about major studies, research projects, and their application to policy.

This event will give you an overview of the issues involved in analysing and using data from large-scale studies which track populations over time. The day will focus on how findings from longitudinal studies can contribute to policy development, with contributions from research and policy perspectives. The event will include talks about longitudinal studies from England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The introduction will be given by Jude England, Head of Social Sciences at the British Library. The keynote speaker will be John Hobcraft, Professor of Demography and Social Policy at the University of York. There will be a panel session chaired by John Pullinger of the House of Commons Library. Speakers to include Professor Diana Kuh and Dr Rebecca Hardy, MRC National Survey of Health and Development; Nick Buck, PI of Understanding Society; Dr Dermot O'Reilly, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast; Gemma Tetlow, the Institute for Fiscal Studies; and Dr Chris Dibben, Director of the Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland.

Introduction to the ESRC Secure Data Service

2011-04-01T11:53:00.000+01:00

Due to continuing demand another Introduction to the ESRC Secure Data Service will be held at LSE

Wednesday 13th April, 9.45-1.30
LRB532 (5th floor of the Lionel Robbins building above the library)

The event is free but booking is essential. For more information and to book a place please see the website
http://securedata.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events-training/training?id=2830

Showcasing ALSPAC as a Resource for Social and Health Researchers

2011-04-01T11:47:00.000+01:00

2-5pm, 4 April 2011
Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX, UK.

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents & Children (ALSPAC) has been running since 1991 and has resulted in a rich data set of biomedical and social measurements on children and their carers. While there has already been much high profile research based on ALSPAC, efforts have recently been made to increase awareness of these data among the wider research community.

The aim of this meeting is to showcase the ALSPAC data and its potential for answering research questions concerning health and social factors. The four presentations will cover the following issues: the ALSPAC data and its linkage to important administrative data sources; factors affecting the relationship between gestational weight gain and the health of mothers and their offspring in later life; a comparison of the socio-economic differences in children's behavioural and educational development found in ALSPAC and a US cohort; and the use of genetic data to establish the causal relationship between physical characteristics with a genetic basis, like obesity, and important outcomes, like educational attainment.

Speakers: Andy Boyd, Debbie Lawlor, Liz Washbrook (all University of Bristol) and Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholde (Imperial College Business School, London)

Further details (including abstracts) can be found at: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac-social-sciences/workshops

There is no charge for this event but pre-registration is recommended. Please email meetings@rss.org.uk or telephone 020 7273 8010 to register.

Essex University: PhD and Masters in survey methodology

2011-03-31T15:50:00.000+01:00

The Department of Sociology at the University of Essex invites applications for fully-funded Masters and PhD studentships in quantitative sociology or survey methodology. Programmes are either for four years, including a one-year Masters, or three years, for applicants who already have research methods training at postgraduate level.

Students can choose from several Masters degrees, leading on to a PhD based in the Department of Sociology (Quantitative Sociology) or ISER (Survey Methodology). Masters degrees are available as standalone one-year degrees, but without ESRC funding.

ISER: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees
Sociology: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/prospective/Research_Degrees/
Masters: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/prospective/PG_Programmes/

For more information about our ESRC studentships, eligibility and available funding, please see: www.essex.ac.uk/dtc.

A formal offer of a postgraduate place at Essex if necessary before you can be considered. You can apply online for postgraduate study at Essex at: www.essex.ac.uk/pgapply and then apply for these studentships.

You should submit your application for postgraduate study by 28 April 2011 at the very latest, to ensure you meet our subsequent ESRC funding application deadline of 13 May 2011.

For more details about the programmes, please contact Dr Nick Allum (nallum@essex.ac.uk) or for application procedures, Michele Hall, Graduate Administrator (socpgadm@essex.ac.uk).

Measuring National Well-being - what matters to you?

2011-03-31T15:43:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 12 April 2011, 5.00 - 7.00pm
Alcuin Research Resource Centre (ARRC), University of York

The Office for National Statistics are developing new measures of national well-being and they want to know what matters to you. Experts from ONS, the University of York and the Equality and Human Rights Commission will be on hand to answer your questions, listen to your views and debate the issues around which facets of life are valuable to your sense of well-being and how we should try to measure them.

The panel will be:
Prof Kate Pickett - University of York, author of ‘The Spirit Level: Why more Equal Societies Almost Always do Better’
Aileen Simkins - Senior Responsible Owner of the Measuring National Well-being Programme, Office for National Statistics
Prof Jonathan Bradshaw - University of York, author of ‘Developing an Index of Children’s Subjective Well-being in England’
David Darton - Director of Foresight, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Prof Roy Sainsbury - University of York, Research Director, Welfare and Employment, Social Policy Research Unit

The debate is free and open to all, however registration is important as places are limited. Please book a place at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1487839167

Background information from ONS is available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/well-being.

English Indices of Deprivation 2010

2011-03-31T11:47:00.000+01:00

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published the English Indices of Deprivation 2010
http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/research/indicesdeprivation/deprivation10/

These statistics update previous indices, published by the Department in 2007 and 2004, using more recent data and provide a nationally consistent measure of multiple deprivation across local areas in England.

The Department would welcome comments regarding your use of the current Indices to help develop statistics that are able to best meet the needs of users.

UN World Contraceptive Use 2010

2011-03-31T10:57:00.000+01:00

The United Nations Population Division has announced the release of "World Contraceptive Use 2010".

This set of tables in Excel format includes country data as of December 2010 on contraceptive prevalence for 193 countries or areas of the world, and unmet need for family planning for 107 countries or areas of the world. Detailed trend data on contraceptive prevalence (total and by type of method) are available from 1950 to 2010. Data also highlight patterns in use of long-acting and permanent methods and male methods of contraception. Unmet need for family planning data (total, spacing and limiting) are available from 1986 to 2009. Regional and sub-regional time trends in contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning are also presented.

"World Contraceptive Use 2010" can be downloaded free of charge from the Population Division website, http://www.unpopulation.org/

Workplace Employment Relations Study 6 Instruments on-line

2011-03-28T11:51:00.000+01:00

NIESR [ http://www.niesr.ac.uk/ ] has just announced that details of the design and content of the sixth Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS6), including copies of all five WERS6 instruments, are now available from the website of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/research/wers/wers2011

Fieldwork for WERS6 is now underway and is expected to be completed by Autumn 2011.

For more information on previous waves and data availability please see http://www.wers2004.info/

Edubase contract renewal - RLAB members

2011-03-28T11:20:00.000+01:00

The CEP's edubase contract is up for renewal. If you are a member of the RLAB (CEP/STICERD/CASE/SERC) and would like to access the data over the next 12 months please contact the data manager.

EduBase is a register of all educational establishments in England and Wales, maintained by the Department for Education. It allows both the general public and government officials to access up to date information.

If you are not a member of the RLAB, but are interested in accessing the data please see the website http://www.edubase.gov.uk/home.xhtml where data for small queries can be downloaded, and details of contracts for the full database can be found.

Quarterly Labour Force Survey updates

2011-03-17T17:17:00.000Z

The quarterly labour force survey data in the RLAB data library has been updated to include

Autumn 2009 (q3, July-Sept)
Winter 2009 (q4, Oct-Dec)
Spring 2010 (q1, Jan-Mar)
Summer 2010 (q2, Apr-Jun)
Autumn 2010 (q3, July-Sept)

Winter 2010 (q4, Oct-Dec)

If you are a member of the RLAB and wish to access these data please contact the RLAB data manager.
If you are not a member of the RLAB these data are available to academics internationally via ESDS http://www.esds.ac.uk/

Debate on the validity of subjective measures of well-being

2011-03-17T16:31:00.000Z

Are national statistics on subjective well-being valid and reliable?

Monday 4 April 2011, 5.00 - 6.30pm with drinks reception to follow 6.30-7.30pm

Venue: Alexander Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester, Lime Grove (off Oxford Road), Manchester, M13 9PL (Building number 67 on the campus map)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and methods@manchester are holding a debate on “Are national statistics on subjective well-being valid and reliable?” at the University of Manchester. This supports the national debate on measuring national well-being.

The panel members will be asked questions from the chair and members of the audience. Please register in advance of the event and submit your questions on the registration form. Background material on the issues of well-being and related documents can be found on the ONS website.

Chair: Mark Easton

Panel members include:
Richard Wilkinson (author of The Spirit Level)
Andrew Oswald (member of the advisory committee on well-being to the ONS)
Stephen Hicks (Assistant Deputy Director of Measuring National Well-being, ONS)
David Hulme (Executive Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute)

This event is free and open to all, however registration is important as places are limited. Please book a place at www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/events/2011-04-04/

New Stata Journal 2011_1

2011-03-17T10:20:00.000Z

The most recent Stata Journal Volume 11, Number 1 is now available for RLAB members in the library under M:\STATA JOURNAL.

Of interest to SERC staff in particular might be the article on Stata utilities for geocoding and generating travel time and travel distance information (A. Ozimek and D. Miles)

The full Journal contents includes:

Articles and Columns
A procedure to tabulate and plot results after flexible modeling of a quantitative Covariate (N. Orsini and S. Greenland)
Nonparametric item response theory using Stata. (J.-B. Hardouin, A. Bonnaud-Antignac, and V. S´ebille)
Visualization of social networks in Stata using multidimensional scaling (R. Corten)
Pointwise confidence intervals for the covariate-adjusted survivor function in the Cox model (M. Cefalu)
Estimation of hurdle models for overdispersed count data (H. Farbmacher)
Right-censored Poisson regression model (R. Raciborski)
Stata utilities for geocoding and generating travel time and travel distance information (A. Ozimek and D. Miles)
eq5d: A command to calculate index values for the EQ-5D quality-of-life instrument. (J. M. Ramos-Go˜ni and O. Rivero-Arias)
Speaking Stata: MMXI and all that: Handling Roman numerals within Stata (N. J. Cox)
Notes and Comments
Stata tip 94: Manipulation of prediction parameters for parametric survival regression models (T. Boswell and R. G. Gutierrez)
Stata tip 95: Estimation of error covariances in a linear model (N. J. Horton)
Stata tip 96: Cube roots (N. J. Cox)
Software Updates

For RLAB staff who do not have access to the library please contact the RLAB data manager.
For staff outside RLAB who wish to access the stata journal please go to http://www.stata-journal.com/

RSS Workshop on Measuring Wellbeing

2011-03-10T09:51:00.002Z

Thursday 17th March: 11.00-17.00
Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX

The RSS is hosting a one-day workshop as part of tha national debate on measuring wellbeing.

Thanks to support from the Office for National Statistics there is no charge for attendance but places are strictly limited.

To book your place please email conference@rss.org.uk

Programme:

11:00 - 11:30 Registration
11:30 – 12:40 Session 1 – National Wellbeing Key note speakers and panel session
- Jil Matheson (National Statistician)
- Walter Radermacher (EuroStat)
- Adrian Allsop (ESRC)
12.40 – 13:00 Keynote speech: David Willetts MP
13:00 – 13:45 Lunch
13:45 – 15:00 Session 2 – Data gaps and availability
(series of short presentations followed by table discussion)
- Paul Allin (ONS)
- Andrew Rzepa (Gallup)
- David Caplan (Audit Commission)
15:00 – 15:30 Refreshments
15:30 – 16:30 Session 3 - National wellbeing measures – empowering the citizen
(series of presentations on disseminating the data to the wider audience)
- Juliet Michaelson (New Economics Foundation)
- Andrew Collinge (GLA)
- Andrew Walkingshaw (Timetric)
16:30 – 17:00 Next steps and close

The World's Women and Girls: 2011 data sheet

2011-03-08T17:46:00.000Z

The Population Reference Bureau has just published the 2011 edition of the World's Women and Girls Data Sheet. The publication contains tables of internationally comparative data for demography, reproductive health, education, work and public life, as well as presenting data on 'overcoming barriers to gender equality'.

The publication can be found here http://www.prb.org/pdf11/world-women-girls-2011-data-sheet.pdf

On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Survey

2011-03-08T17:35:00.000Z

The US Department of Agriculture has released the first-ever nationwide survey that looked at renewable energy practices on America's farms and ranches.

The results are published in tabular form (no microdata) and are available along with the 2007 Census of Agriculture Volume 1 Geographic Area Series and related reports on the NASS website at www.nass.usda.gov/.

Custom-designed tabulations may be developed when data are not published elsewhere. These tabulations are developed to individual user specifications on a cost-reimbursable basis and shared with the public.

http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/On-Farm_Energy_Production/energy09.pdf

Update to EDUBASE data

2011-03-08T10:10:00.000Z

The Edubase data in the RLAB data library has been updated.

The database no longer includes information about 'British Overseas Establishments'. The old version of the database has been preserved for consistency, the new version is saved as EDUBASE10_update2.

If you are a member of the RLAB and would like access to the data or have any questions please contact the data manager.

If you are not a member of the RLAB and are interested in getting access to the data please go directly to the provider http://www.edubase.gov.uk/home.xhtml;jsessionid=71BC9BF1AB5E86B0F48D52EAAE9F4F20

Census Resources for Research

2011-03-08T10:04:00.000Z

On 12 April 2011, 10.00-4.30
British Library

The event will be an introduction to using census data for UK researchers. Organised in conjunction with the ESRC Census Programme and the UK Data Archive, it will feature presentations on interaction data, samples of anonymised records, aggregate data, boundary data and the ONS Longitudinal Study.

Although the event is open to all, those who are planning to carry out academic research using census data will benefit most. It is not suitable for those interested in genealogy.

This event is free of charge. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

To find out more and to book a place, please go to: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2752

Managing and sharing social science research data: legal and ethical issues

2011-03-08T09:58:00.000Z

8 April 2011, 10.00-2.30
British Library, London

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2751

As part of its current Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) grant, the UK Data Archive will host a workshop on managing and sharing research data for quantitative and qualitative social science research. The workshop is aimed at social researchers at all stages of their career - from new to experienced - and will cover key legal and ethical issues surrounding the managing and sharing of data in research with people (surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations and ethnography). The workshop will provide guidance and practical exercises and discussions focusing on:

• ethical and legal issues in data sharing and re-use
• handling and sharing confidential information and personal data
• informed consent and data sharing
• anonymising data

Content is based on advice and guidance provided by the UK Data Archive to researchers and aims to help researchers plan data management strategies for projects and consider data sharing and archiving as part of ethical review procedures.

Travel bursaries are available for postgraduate students. Contact datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk for further information.

Organisers: UK Data Archive, Research Data Management Support Services, University

What Makes You Happy? Office for National Statistics: Consultation on National Well Being Survey

2011-03-08T09:54:00.000Z

Tuesday 29th March, 2.00 - 4.00pm,
SRA, 24 – 32 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HX

Booking by email to makiD@the-sra.org.uk

The purpose of this event is to gather together practicing social researchers to explore in some depth the methodological issues facing ONS

For more information http://www.the-sra.org.uk/events.htm

Introduction to the ESRC Secure Data Service

2011-03-07T11:11:00.000Z

For people who missed these events the first time, two more introductions to the ESRC's new Secure Data Service have been scheduled for LSE.

Secure Data Service information event

Dates: 13 April 2011, 14.30-15.30 / 11th May 2011, 14.30-15.30

Place: CEP conference room LRB405, London School of Economics and Political Science

The Secure Data Service is an ESRC-funded service designed to allow approved researchers with safe and secure access, from any UK higher education or research institution, to confidential/sensitive data free of charge.

The Service currently provides access to detailed social and health data, including versions of the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, with grid-references for each respondent.

We anticipate that the Service will also provide access to the business and economic microdata collections currently available only from the ONS Virtual Microdata Laboratory.

This information event is designed to inform you about the Service and the datasets that will be available to you.

To book a place at either event email securedata@ukda.ac.uk or telephone: +44 (0)1206 874968.

13th April: http://securedata.ukda.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2803
11th May: http://securedata.ukda.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2804

Understanding Society/BHPS conference 2011 - submission deadline

2011-03-07T10:59:00.000Z

The call for papers for the Understanding Society conference 2011 is now open. The deadline for abstracts is March 15th 2011. For more information see the website

http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/understanding-society-bhps-conference-2011/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Understanding+Society++BHPS+Conference+2011+-+Deadline+for+abstracts&utm_content=Understanding+Society++BHPS+Conference+2011+-+Deadline+for+abstracts+CID_b09466c05dc0724060ed0b92a939a1aa&utm_source=Email+marketing+software&utm_term=Conference+website

Home Office Consultation on Immigration Statistics Publications

2011-02-25T10:22:00.001Z

Comments on the proposals, summarised below, are sought from users of the following publications produced by Home Office Statistics:

• Control of Immigration: United Kingdom Statistics (annual publication)
• Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary
• British Citizenship Statistics (annual publication)

The consultation ends on 4 May 2011 and a summary update is planned to be included in Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary Q1 2011 at the end of May.

Home Office Statistics are proposing a phased development of changes that would ultimately lead to the release of data using the web as the main vehicle of dissemination.

It is proposed that in a phased development between August 2011 and February 2012:

i) commentary and analysis of the data should be structured in virtual topics, be shorter and focus on key points, but provide longer term trends;

ii) the annual and quarterly Control of Immigration publications, together with the British Citizenship Statistics, are combined to avoid duplication;

iii) tables are presented in such a way that makes them more accessible to users, in particular listing within tables all annual data, followed by quarterly data (a draft example of this layout is available in Table 1.2 of Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary Q4 2010); and a standard and full country of nationality and continent list;

iv) the number of tables released is reduced through a combination of amalgamation and a reduction in the variables reported on; and

v) all data (except passenger arrivals) are provided unrounded.

The latest publications and a copy of the consultation, containing further details and the consultation questions, are available from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

Please send your responses to MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Launch of the ESRC Secure Data Service

2011-02-24T10:57:00.000Z

On Tuesday 29th March the ESRC funded Secure Data Service will be officially launched at the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), One Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET

To celebrate this major advance in the UK data infrastructure and the resulting increase in data access for policy based research, two events will be held:

Launch
6.00 Drinks reception
6.30 Keynote address and panel discussion
Speakers to include:

• Jil Matheson, National Statistician, UK Statistics Authority
• Paul Boyle, Chief Executive, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Julia Lane, Program Director, National Science Foundation (USA) and Chair, Secure Data Service Advisory Committee
• Melanie Wright, Director, Secure Data Service

To book your place: www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/2011/sdslaunch

Before the official launch there will also be a joint workshop

VML/SDS workshop: Joining together to improve research and impact

2.00-5.30 A decade of microdata: what have we learned, and what difference has it made?

This short workshop will focus on how changes in microdata access have affected research, policy and our understanding of the world, particularly in relation to economic performance. Information about how the VML and Secure Data Service will work together to provide researchers with access to data will also be provided.

To book your place: www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/2011/sdsworkshop

NOTE: Building security requires all attendees to book in advance. Kindly submit your booking form no later than Monday 21 March 2011.

On-line Tool for Data Management Plans

2011-02-17T12:32:00.000Z

The Digital Curation Centre has released a trial version of a new tool to assist users in developing data management plans http://dmponline.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/

Funding bodies increasingly require their grant-holders to produce and maintain Data Management Plans (DMPs), both at the bid-preparation stage and after funding has been secured.

DMP Online is designed to enable researchers to build and edit DMPs with a view to the requirements stipulated by the major UK funders.

If you are applying to one of the funders that make specific data-related demands at the application stage (i.e. AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, Wellcome) you will see the funder's requirements in the left-hand column. These have been mapped to the appropriate clauses in the DCC Checklist for a Data Management Plan. By answering these questions, you should de facto meet the funder's requirements. The tool also presents options for developing DMPs for funding bodies that do not have specific data related demands.

For US researchers a prototype based on the DCC tool is in development http://www.cdlib.org/uc3/datamanagement/dmpo.html

World Bank Development Data in Stata

2011-02-17T11:38:00.000Z

WBOPENDATA has been added to the utilities available through the RLAB stata licenses.

If you have your own stata license and would like to install WBOPENDATA the command is:

ssc install wbopendata

WBOPENDATA draws from the main World Bank collections of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources, and made available through the World Bank Open Data Initiative, and presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates. Users can chose from one of three of the languages supported by the database, namely, English, Spanish, or French. Three possible downloads options are currently supported: country - all indicators for all years for a single country. topic - all indicators within a specific topic, for all years and all countries. indicator - all years for all countries for a single indicator. Users can also choose to have the data displayed in either the wide or long format (wide is the default option).

For example, to download all data available for the Philippines for all years, type:

wbopendata, country(phl) clear

This returns data for 972 indicators from 1960 to the latest year available. The default data display is in wide format.

The list of countries, topics, and indicators and their corresponding codes are documented in the help file (see -help wbopendata-).

Consultation on Crime Statistics

2011-02-16T11:21:00.000Z

The National Statistician has launched a web based invitation to comment on how crime statistics should be compiled in future. Anyone with an interest in crime statistics is invited to feed in their views, which will help shape the recommendations from the independent review of crime statistics she is currently conducting.

The Home Secretary has invited the National Statistician to conduct an independent review of crime statistics with the aim of increasing public confidence in these statistics. The Home Secretary has decided that the publication of crime statistics should be moved out of the Home Office to promote greater trust and demonstrate their independence.

The review aims to:

- consider gaps, discrepancies and discontinuities within crime statistics;

- recommend the best future location for the publication of crime statistics, and their associated data collection systems;

- and, produce an action plan for the implementation of recommendations from the UK Statistics Authority’s report Overcoming Barriers to Trust in Crime Statistics: England and Wales published in May 2010.

The open 'invitation to comment' period closes at midnight on 10 March 2011.

The review is due to report at the end of April 2011. It is then intended to run a public consultation on the recommendations from the review. If you are interested in commenting on the review please follow this link

http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/national-statistician/ns-reports--reviews-and-guidance/national-statistician-s-reviews/national-statistician-s-review-of-crime-statistics.html