MethodBoxData, Methods, People

Shoaib SufiManchester University

shoaib.sufi@manchester.ac.uk

02 July 2012

www.methodbox.org

Homepage• Web 2.0• Find Data• Upload

Methods• Link• Share• Collaborate

www.methodbox.org

How MethodBox fits in

UK Data Archive(UKDA)

MethodBox

Economic and Social Data Service(ESDS)

Survey Curation

Survey Mapping

diagram not to scale

Survey Navigation

Survey Commissioning & Collection

etc…

Impr

ovin

g Ac

cess

& U

se

socialSave in systemVariable results ✓

✓✓

Research Cycle

DataAnalysisModels

Results

Research Questions

Research Questions

Publications, Reports or Decisions

Resources Methods

Context

Conclusions

www.methodbox.org

Data

•Discover – find out which other datasets might be relevant to your research

•Subset – build, save and download manageable selections of variables from many sources

•Learn – compare variables and save your searches

•Upload – your own data

www.methodbox.org

Example National Dataset Health Surveys for England

• Available from the ESDS• Large-scale (participants * variables)

– 16000 * 1800• Annual survey since 1991• Potential for greater use• Key barrier:– Not knowing it might be of interest– extracting a research-ready subset of data

• MethodBox– Makes searching and extracting data from the ESDS

straightforward– Supports data format standards.

www.methodbox.org

Examples: HSE 2006

13 pages208 pages

Variable DefinitionsVariable CategoriesVariable SPSS code

Questionnaire Instructions

224 pages

Questions usedTo set variables

148 pages

Survey Description

9 pagesVariable Value

Domains 351 pages46 MB data files

Data and Variable Codebook

X 19 All HSE

@1800 Variables

Shopping for variables from across different years of survey collections…

Look at variable information in one place

Subset your data as data extracts

Browsing for data extractsmade by a social networkof data archive users…

Case study: Andrew Renehan Clinical Senior Lecturer/Honorary

Consultant, Christie Hospital NHS Trustwww.methodbox.org

Upload & Share Datawww.methodbox.org

Methods

•Publish and share – methods and scripts

•Link – e.g. your data subsets with method scripts; help you remember what you did

•Any file type – supported as a Method or Script, e.g: – Stata, R, SPSS for syntax– .doc, .txt, .pdf for explaining your algorithm

www.methodbox.org

Methods

Linking• When making a

subset or uploading a script

• View your links • View links made

by others

Smoking example

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Case study: Alan Marshall Research Associate, The Cathie Marsh Centre for

Census and Survey Research, Manchester

• PhD and continuing work.• Developed a methodology for the local

estimation/projections of limiting long term illness and disability in UK districts

• Explored place on impact of retirement on health

• Projections 2001 to 2031

www.methodbox.org

More information at http://www.esds.ac.uk/government/docs/smallareaestimation.pdf

/data_extracts/364Raw HSE 2001

data

/data_extracts/365Raw HSE 2002

data

/scripts/70Prepare HSE 2001

data

/scripts/69Prepare HSE 2000

data

/data_extracts/414Prepared HSE

2000 data

/data_extracts/415Prepared HSE

2001 Data/scripts/71

Merge HSE Data and add columns

/data_extracts/413Merged HSE Data

/data_extracts/412Census Data

/scripts/72Merge HSE &

Census

/data_extracts/411Merged HSE & Census Data

/scripts/73Add Regression

factors

/scripts/76/scripts/75

Regression Factors

/scripts/74Estimate

disability for district

Method DataWorkflow

Linking methods, data and people

People

•Connect - with other researchers, collaborate and form research groups

•Share - your resources with other users or groups

•Review - Make private notes and public comments, let others know what you like/think

www.methodbox.org

Facilitating a social networkof data archive users…

…toward a reward environmentfor sharing data, methods,and expertise

www.methodbox.org

Sharing and attribution

• Private• Group• Public

• Credit

Private notes and Public comments

Resources can be ‘Liked’

www.methodbox.org

Sustainability

• Developed and sustained by the myGrid team CS@Manchester University - funded until 2014 with more funding sought

• Production Server, Production services:– Exclusive dedicated hardware (16 CPU cores, 24

GB Ram, 4 TB disk)– service monitoring and automated backup

• Partnership with UKDA

www.methodbox.org

A Resource for National and International Infrastructurewww.methodbox.org

www.methodbox.org

National e-Infrastructure for Social Simulation

Resource

Access

Your Data, Your Methods

Share Retain

MethodBox now Open • Serving:– 30+ Data Series– 150+ Data Sets– 450+ Data files

• Hosting:– 125+ Users– 220+ Subsets– 60+ Methods/Scripts

• Unique visits:– 1550+ May 2011 to June 2012

Register now at www.methodbox.org

Take Home MessagePhD Students/Researchers• Find the data for your

research• Supports your data

preparation• Remember what you did• Connect with others• Promote your work

Supervisors/Collaborators• Have material in one place

for training/learning purposes

• Remember what happened after the PhD student/collaboration

• Credit recorded for any derived work

Demo: Thursday 5th July, ESRC Stand in JCR 12:45pm

Data Providers: publish data, improve/increase use, social sharing

www.methodbox.org

Vanessa Higgins

Rob Haines

Caroline Jay

Sam Smith

Sarah King-Hele

Current, alumni & associated

Questions

?