Newcastle University

The obvious question is why would you want to use secondary data in your research?

The potential use of information retrieved from large-scale surveys is rarely fully utilised by the principal investigators themselves. Researchers who gain subsequent access to the data may be able to analyse the material for completely different subjects from those envisaged by those originally involved.

The UK Data Archive (located at the University of Essex) established by Economic and Social Research Council in 1967, is the largest national resource of computer readable copies of social science and humanities statistics and data in the UK. You can also search the catalogues of other national archives. Cross national and temporal comparative social research data can be acquired for users.

• UK Data Archive FE and HE institutions that are eligible for JISC services can download material free of charge. Users need to register with the UK data archive.
• EconData at the University of Maryland provides access to US and international economic time series statistics.
• MIMAS (Manchester Information & Associated Services) offers online access to census datasets (via the Census Dissemination Unit), UK government surveys and a wide range of statistical packages to improve access and analysis.
• National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) contains archived digital data from UK departments and agencies. The system has been available since March 1998 and provides open access to the catalogues of all its holdings, and free access to open datasets following a simple registration process.
• The Census Registration Service, based at the UK Data Archive, now provides access to the following four Census Data Support Units:
  • Census Dissemination Unit from MIMAS (http://census.ac.uk/cdu) (University of Manchester)
  • Census Geography Data Unit (UKBORDERS) from Edina (http://edina.ac.uk/ukborders) (University of Edinburgh)
  • Census Interaction Data Service (http://census.ac.uk/cids) (Universities of Leeds and Glasgow)
  • Samples of Anonymised Records from the Census Microdata Unit, Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/sars) (University of Manchester)
  A Campus ID and password is required to access these services. Current users of the four census services will need to re-register with the new Census Registration Service, in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998

DOE Data Explorer
The DOE Data Explorer can be used to find collections of scientific research data, such as computer simulations, figures and plots, interactive maps, multimedia, numeric files, and scientific images. It is intended to be particularly useful to students, the public, and to researchers who are new to a field or looking for experimental or observational data outside their normal field of expertise. Each collection is funded either in whole or in part by the US Department of Energy.