ESDS Resources for BCS Users

Vanessa HigginsESDS Government

Centre for Census and Survey ResearchUniversity of Manchester

ESDS Government

• ESDS began in Jan 03

• Comprises 4 specialist services– ESDS Government– ESDS Longitudinal– ESDS Qualidata– ESDS International

• ESDS Government provides access and user support for key large-scale government surveys such as Labour Force Survey, Expenditure and Food Survey, British Crime Survey, Scottish Crime Survey

• Access remains via the UKDA

                     

                     

Survey pages

External resources and links at dataset level

Guiding new users through...

What do our users use the data for?

2 online searchable databases:• Current Usage: Registration

information records the research use to which data is put. We share registration information on our web site if the user permits

• Publications: Users are requested to inform ESDS of publications, but we also harvest information from the ISI WOK bibliographic database

Teaching datasets

• Cut-down data for teaching• 2000 data – core sample• Excludes boosts• Includes weights for individual

and household analysis • 55 variables • User guide

Statistical guides

• SPSS

• STATA

• Weighting

• Analysis over time (forthcoming)

Themed Guides

• Employment and labour market

• Health

• Social capital

• Ethnicity

• Data Sources in Scotland

• Data Sources in Northern Ireland

Help-desk

• 250+ Queries in the last year• Range of different ranges of complexity:

– How do I get access to the BCS?– Which weight should I use?– What level of geography can I get?– Why does my analysis show high levels of

missing data?– The documentation says variable X is in the data

but I can’t find it

• Help desk involves collaboration with UKDA, HO, ONS, NatCen etc

Outreach events

Introductory workshops Joint workshops with other ESDS servicesMethodsResearch conferencesDataset user groupsOther presentationsPosters

Keeping in touch

• Website contains news & information about consultations/data developments

• JISCmail esds-govsurveys list• Newsletter

– Biannual (June and Dec)– Available on website or hard copy– Contains

• Survey news from ONS etc• New ESDS resources• Summaries of meetings/hot topics• Focus on researchers

The important last slide…Helpdesk:

govsurveys@esds.ac.uk(0161)275 1980

Website:http://www.esds.ac.uk/government

Jisc list:esds-govsurveys@jiscmail.ac.ukCrim-bcs-users@jiscmail.ac.uk