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What type of user are you?
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ESRC Data resources
This briefing gives some background to the ESRC funded data resources and why they might be useful to journalists. It highlights some of the ones funded by the ESRC as well as giving links and contact details to allow you to get in touch and start actively using them. What are "data resources"?The data resources referred to are the results of large scale surveys or longitudinal studies, those that follow people or groups over time. So what are longitudinal studies? What are cohort studies? Professor Heather Joshi Director of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies talks what about longitudinal and cohort studies are and the benefits of this type of research. She also highlights some of the current cohort studies including the work on the Millennium Cohort Study.
 Listen to interview (MP3) The ESRC funds internationally renowned data resources such as:- Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) follows children born over a year in 2000/1, and living in selected electoral wards. The first survey covered nearly 19,000 children aged nine months and the children will be followed up at the ages of three, five, seven and beyond. The study is funded by the ESRC and a consortium of government departments.
- The British Cohort Study (BCS), similar to the MCS first studied babies born in one week in April 1970, and then has followed them as they have grown up at the ages of five, 10, 16, 26 and 30.
- The National Child Development Study (NCDS) started life as the Perinatal Mortality Survey, which took as its subjects every child (about 18,000 in number) born in a single week in March 1958. The cohort has been re-interviewed at the ages of seven, 11, 16, 23, 33 and 42. The next survey will take place in 2008 when the cohort turn 50.
- The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) - a representative sample of 6,000 households interviewed in every year since 1991. It now contains detailed data on incomes, work, housing, family structure, health, political engagement and much more. This core information, together with special questionnaires for young people, has given rise to a substantial body of research on children and young people.
The BHPS will shortly be replaced by an even bigger resource, also funded by the ESRC - the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)- which will follow nearly 100,000 individuals in 40,000 households and will enable a much better understanding of people's lives and diversity of experiences over time and across generations. The findings from the study will help to inform and evaluate long term policy decisions in areas as diverse as housing, health, and education. More information on the UKHLS will be made available on here when it is launched during 2008.
As the name suggests the data resources offer a huge wealth of data on people's attitudes and lifestyles that can add depth and evidence to stories on a wide range of issues affecting every aspect of society including child development, parenting, ageing, health, household formation, UK demographics, crime, voting behaviour and working practices. Where do I start?By following the links below you can access more information on the different data resources that we fund by subject area:
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