Step by step: A smoother journey towards using administrative data
ADR UK is working to increase the secure use of administrative data for public good research, so that this data can inform better decisions in public life. That means increasing awareness across disciplines, improving the infrastructure and processes researchers can use to access administrative data, as well as building capabilities to empower them to use it.
Here are some of the steps we’ve taken to improve the researcher journey this year:
Step 1: Researchers are aware of administrative data and its potential
To use administrative data for public good, researchers first need to understand that it presents a viable option for their work. ADR UK has continued to promote the value of administrative data across the research community, along with the support available for new users.
The ADR UK Data Roadshow is available for research organisations to collaborate with us to plan bespoke workshops, either online or in person. Workshops are offered to raise awareness of the rich administrative and other datasets available for research. Two online and two in-person events took place over the last year, each stimulating discussion and bringing together researchers from a range of universities and disciplines.
The ADR UK Learning Hub is an online resource that we launched in September 2023. It includes a landing page on ‘Getting started with administrative data’, which explains the opportunities offered by this type of data and signposts to a range of introductory resources.
ADR UK has proactively engaged across the sector to highlight ADR UK Research Fellowships to new research communities. This led to a record number of applications for the 2024 funding round. Beyond this funding, ADR UK has facilitated more routine use of administrative data across the research sector. The ADR England Research Community Catalyst projects have been co-creating research agendas which will be used to help drive self-sustaining research communities around using administrative data to address pressing policy themes.
Step 2: Researchers understand the data available
This year saw the release of an improved version of the ADR UK Data Catalogue following user feedback, which now has improved search results and a more accessible interface. Similarly, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has developed an online NISRA federated catalogue. Through these catalogues ADR UK is enhancing discoverability of data, building understanding of the datasets available, and providing the mechanism to match up researcher needs with suitable data.
Researchers are benefitting from ADR UK’s newly defined minimum standards of documentation to help them understand and use the data. Applicable to all ADR UK flagship datasets, these standards require a high-quality user guide and data dictionary to be made publicly available. This is important because researchers use metadata to gain a high-level understanding of a dataset – whether it meets their needs and their project idea is feasible – before they apply for access.
ADR UK is working to increase the availability of low-fidelity synthetic data to help enrich researchers’ understanding of datasets. It can help them learn the characteristics, structure, and limitations of a dataset and start developing code before they are granted access to the real dataset. This year, two ADR UK-funded projects have started exploring the perspectives of data owners and providers, and the public, on the use of synthetic data. ADR UK has taken over the leadership of a synthetic data working group involving a wide range of stakeholders interested in developing shared definitions, processes and governance for synthetic data, none of which currently exist in the UK. These initiatives form an important part of wider work to expand the use of synthetic data to build research capability and understanding of specific datasets, in a way that is acceptable to the public.
Step 3: Researchers can successfully apply for access to the data
ADR UK has worked closely with data infrastructure partners to simplify and improve researchers’ experiences of applying for data access. Webpages on ADR UK flagship datasets now contain data access checklists, which give a step-by-step guide. The Learning Hub also contains a resource on accessing data for research, including information on the Digital Economy Act 2017 and signposting to training courses to help researchers become accredited.
Datacise Open Learning is a new learning platform delivered by ADR Wales in partnership with Swansea University and the SAIL Databank. Its training courses explain the SAIL Databank application process, with sessions offering practical insights to enhance researchers’ application skills and improve the quality of applications.
ADR Scotland has supported a smoother end-to-end experience of applying for research use of administrative data. Co-developed by Research Data Scotland and Public Health Scotland, the new Researcher Access Service includes features to enhance the user experience, such as a portal for researchers to track their application status.
Step 4: Researchers have the skills and knowledge they need to use the data effectively
Once secure access to a dataset is granted, the minimum standards of documentation for ADR UK flagship data now requires that user guides and data dictionaries are available to researchers inside the secure environment. ADR UK has also increased the online visibility of Data Explained publications. Written by early users of a dataset about their experiences, these documents aim to:
- support future users of the dataset by providing guidance
- improve the future quality or scope of the data available by providing recommendations to data owners.
The Learning Hub’s ‘Skills and resources to use administrative data’ section provides materials to help researchers at all levels to develop their skills in using administrative data. Likewise, Datacise Open Learning has enhanced researchers' capabilities through a themed workgroup series in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which outlined MoJ Data First datasets available in the SAIL Databank. These comprehensive training sessions provided researchers with the opportunity to discuss these datasets directly with data owners, as well as the skills to navigate these datasets for in-depth research.
NISRA made the de-identified Business Data for Research datasets available to a small number of researchers, enabling user testing. The researchers provided feedback on the quality of NISRA’s documentation such as metadata, synthetic data and other resources. This helped to inform the future development of the data, including identifying new datasets to be included.
This year the Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland developed a new post to deliver a training and capacity building strategy for researchers. ADR Scotland continues to deliver the Introduction to Administrative Data Research and Analysis course which is open to researchers across the UK.
The Honest Broker Service and the Secure eResearch Platform, in partnership with SAIL, is providing remote access to data for research and affording capacity building opportunities for researchers. These include prolonging time available for research, forming multi-disciplinary research teams, and enabling skills sharing across projects.
Step 5: Research findings are made available to inform public good outcomes
ADR UK remains committed to a dual publication model, where accessible, public-facing research outputs are prioritised alongside traditional peer-reviewed journals. This aims to ensure that research evidence is readily available to inform decision-makers. Additionally, the ONS has now implemented a single tier output clearance model. As well as providing more flexibility and efficiency for researchers, this helps to ensure that research outputs are cleared and published in a timely way to inform policy and practice.