http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
The UK
Data Archive (UKDA) is an internationally-renowned centre of expertise in
data acquisition, preservation, dissemination and promotion; and is curator
of the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and
humanities in the UK. The UKDA provides resource discovery and support for
secondary use of quantitative and qualitative data in research, teaching
and learning as a lead partner of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS).
UKDA is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), JISC and
the University of Essex Founded
in 1967, it now houses several thousand datasets of interest to researchers
in all sectors and from many different disciplines. Search for content on
all of the JISC services websites
The UKDA is a member of the Council of European Social Science Data
Archives (CESSDA), and the International Association of Social Science
Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) through which it plays a lead
role in international collaborative projects on issues such as data
sharing, metadata and social science thesauri. UKDA is also a member
institution of the US national social science and historical data archive,
ICPSR in Michigan and the International Federation of Data Archives (IFDO).
The UKDA provides resource discovery and support for secondary use of
quantitative and qualitative data in research, teaching and learning. As a
lead partner of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the UKDA is
responsible for:
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overall integration and management of the
ESDS
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access and preservation, focusing on the central activities of data
acquisition, processing, preservation and dissemination
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ESDS Qualidata a
specialist service for a range of qualitative datasets
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and supports:
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ESDS
International working with Manchester Information and Associated
Services (MIMAS), providing access
to international micro data
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ESDS
Government working with the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and
Survey Research (CCSR), facilitating
access to large-scale government datasets
The UKDA also provides preservation services for other data organisations,
supports the National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) and facilitates international data
exchange through agreements with other national archives. The UKDA hosts AHDS History one of the five
Centres of the Arts and Humanities Data Service, and the Census.ac.uk facilitating access to the census
data resources for UK higher and further education.
The UKDA's involvement in Research and Development
projects has made a significant contribution to new developments in data
preservation and dissemination, metadata standards, software for web
browsing, data discovery and data delivery.
How to access our data
Access to over 5000 computer-readable datasets is available via the Data
Catalogue. Comprehensive online information, and links to access
data, are available for each dataset. The Data Catalogue provides
advanced search and browse facilities including: searching by title, data
creator, or keywords/variables; and browsing by subject category, major
studies, and new releases.
All users can access study descriptions, online documentation, including
questionnaires, free of charge and without registering. Access to data
requires registration and uses the Athens authentication system. Registered
users can also download and explore/analyse online a large and growing
number of datasets. Users can also request data on CD.