The ESRC Survey Resources Network has celebrated its second birthday. The network, under the Directorship of ISER’s Peter Lynn, makes an important contribution to the training of UK survey researchers and the quality of survey research.
Describing the project Peter said:
“The Network was set up to provide a coherent approach to the ESRC’s investments in survey methods. The idea was to include the continuation and expansion of some long-standing and much-loved resources, as well as some new co-ordinating and strategic activities. Since the Network started up, nearly 300 participants have taken part in the Survey Skills Programme and 20 workshops have been held at venues all around the UK which is a great achievement.”
One of the flagship activities of the network is the Survey Skills Programme, which provides introductory training in survey data collection. Each participant attends an initial one-day workshop followed by a personally-tailored programme of up to four one-day placements. The placements can include attendance at an interviewer briefing conference, accompanying an interviewer in the field, observing the work of a telephone interviewing unit, spending time with a coding team, or visiting the UK Data Archive.
The network provides free online resources for researchers and students in the form of the Survey Question Bank (SQB). The SQB allows users to locate survey questions, questionnaires, survey variables, and metadata. Recent innovations have included the launch of an advanced search facility, the addition of several major cross-national survey series – including the European Social Survey, Afrobarometer, and European Quality of Life Survey. In October 2010 there were over 7,000 unique visitors and over 20,000 page views. More exciting developments are in the pipeline and it’s hoped that funding for network can be secured to ensure it continues beyond October 2011, when the current funding ends.