ESDS Crime data resources:

quantitative and qualitative

Dr. Sharon Bolton, UK Data Archive

National Centre for Research Methods Festival, 6 July 2010

ESDS overview

• National data archiving, dissemination and support service, established 2003

• Jointly supported by: – Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)– Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)

• Brought together existing organisations as partners: – UK Data Archive (UKDA) – Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey

Research (CCSR) – Manchester Information and Associated – Services (MIMAS)– Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)

What does ESDS do?

• access and support for key economic and social data

• distributed service, bringing together centres of expertise in data creation, dissemination, preservation and use

• provides seamless, easy access to a range of disparate resources for UK HE and FE sectors

• core archiving services plus four specialist data services

ESDS services

• ESDS Government – Large-scale government surveys

• ESDS International– Multi-nation aggregate databanks and survey data

• ESDS Longitudinal – Major UK surveys following individuals over time

• ESDS Qualidata– Range of multimedia qualitative data sources (in-

depth and semi-structured interviews, focus groups, oral histories, diaries, mixed methods data, audio and video)

• find out more at www.esds.ac.uk

What kinds of data support criminological research?

• not just crime counts or direct experience of crime, though this is important

– community and citizenship– lifestyles; youth and school surveys– social policy– emerging problems: human trafficking,

terrorism– quantitative, qualitative, microdata,

macrodata– any more?

• ESDS resources wide-ranging

How do I find crime data at ESDS?

• Search the ESDS catalogue: www.esds.ac.uk

• Browse by subject ‘crime and law enforcement’

• Keyword search on crime-related terms will find individual questions within a larger survey

• Documentation online – read reports and questionnaires

• Crime theme resource - searching guide

Browsing by subject

Keyword search

Quantitative resources

• British Crime Survey (supported by ESDS Government service)

• Other quantitative surveys:– SN 5807: Arrestee Survey, 2003-2006

– SN 4665: Measuring the Fear of Crime with Greater Accuracy, 2002

– SN 5300: Crowd Dynamics, Policing and Hooliganism at Euro 2004

Quantitative resources - longitudinal

• GN 33360: Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS)

• SN 4800: Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime: Waves One to Four, 1997-2001 (ESYTC)

Quantitative resources – cross-national

• Eurostat New Cronos database: homicide, violent crime, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, drug trafficking, police, prisons

• World Bank World/Africa Development Indicators: crime and corruption, various categories

• survey microdata: Eurobarometer series

• supported by ESDS International: http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/

Qualitative resources

• SN 4581: Gender Difference, Anxiety and the Fear of Crime, 1995

• SN 5314: Multilateral Policing in Africa: its Nature and Socio-Political Impact in Uganda and Sierra Leone, 2003-2005

• SN 5274: Context and Motive in the Perpetuation of Racial Harassment and Violence in North Staffordshire, 2004

• SN 6356: Attitudes in Russia to Social and Political Aspects of Human Trafficking, 2007

• SN 6283: Co-operation or Contest? Inter-Agency Relationships in Police Custody Areas, 2007

Learning and teaching resources I

• British Crime Survey teaching datasets (BCS covered by ESDS Government)

• X4L SDiT: freely downloadable classroom resource to demonstrate how survey data can be used in teaching, also used subset of BCS: – http://x4l.data-archive.ac.uk/

• Resources by theme: crime and social control, health, research methods, qualitative methods

X4L SDiT resource

Learning and teaching resources II

• thematic guide to crime and social control data: http://www.esds.ac.uk/themes/crime/introduction.asp

• video guides: searching, downloading data

• case studies (fear of crime, weapon carrying, attitudes to government crime control)

• comprehensive links to resources held at ESDS and elsewhere

ESDS crime and social control theme

Learning and teaching resources III

• qualitative methodologies:http://www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/support/

teaching.asp

• teaching packs:– diverse interview types (semi-structured, life

stories, oral histories)– non-interview methods (diaries, focus

groups, visual methods)– re-using qualitative data– case studies on how data have been re-used

Qualitative teaching packs

Enabling secondary use of crime-related data

• how can ‘sensitive’ data be archived for secondary use?

• guidance on data management and ethicshttp://www.data-archive.ac.uk/sharing/confidential.asp

• careful use of anonymisation techniques

• restricting access for whole or part of study

• contact us when you start your project: help@esds.ac.uk

Data management

www.data-archive.ac.uk