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Data Support Committee

The Equalsoc Data Support Committee (DSC) has been established with its main objective being to increase the amount of accessible and relevant data in the network’s fields of research. It is thus fully integrated in the Equalsoc project and is an important support for the achievements of the research projects. This objective can be defined in a number of ways, including sharing information about useful data, getting access to these data, dealing with harmonization problems and data comparability, and acquiring more relevant data.

For the first two years, priority has been given to access to data for comparative projects, which are at the core of the Equalsoc project.

Academic international and European surveys

Academic international and European surveys such as the European Social Survey are easily accessible and the Equalsoc project researchers are using them extensively.

Eurostat microdata

Access to the Eurostat microdata was considered to be a priority for many of Equalsoc’s projects. An agreement with Eurostat has been signed that allows all Equalsoc researchers and PhD students working on Equalsoc research projects approved by the Scientific Council to access the microdata that have been acquired for the network. Currently EULFS and ad hoc modules, the ECHP and the SILC are available.

Users must be members of an Equalsoc partner institution and be working in one of the Equalsoc research projects. National coordinators are responsible for the list of members for their institution. All users are required to sign the Eurostat confidentiality form. No redistribution is allowed in the network.

The Centre Maurice Halbwachs/CNRS in Paris provides the detailed list of available microdata (a table for LFS is provided to clarify the years and countries available), documentation and models of licence to be signed and returned by post to the CMH. Data are provided to researchers in different formats. For access follow this link. For more information, contact the Data contact person in your institution.

The organization of the Data Support Committee

The Data Support Committee is chaired by Roxane Silberman (CNRS). Jane Roberts, Bertrand Maître, Franz Kraus are the other members. Jane Roberts acts as coordinator for the Data contact persons. The ADISP (Archives de données issues de la statistique publique) in the Centre Maurice Halbwachs/CNRS in Paris distributesthe data under the responsibility of Benoît Tudoux.

Future developments and perspectives

The DSC will continue its main task of acquiring and distributing Eurostat microdata. It is expected that more researchers will use the SILC as we get new releases of this European panel. New LFS and ad hoc modules are regularly added. The DSC will also continue discussing with Eurostat easier access to their microdata, and access to more detailed data than those currently provided.

In the coming years, the DSC expects to meet the other requirements of its programme, especially in relation to problems of comparability and harmonization. The DSC aims to collect recommendations on categorization as submitted by researchers in the course of their comparative work. The DSC will also support proposals for changes to existing surveys that we can defend at the European and national levels in a coordinated fashion, and back ideas for new data production such as the proposed module for the European Social Survey. We thus hope to contribute to the organization of the social science infrastructure in Europe.