Vance Merrill Social Science Data Archives Australian National University Canberra ACT
May 1997
During the past year, IASSIST gained an additional Australian member (Len
Smith, National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health, the Australian
National University), yet most activity related to Association aims
continued to be carried out by the Social Science Data Archives (SSDA) and
ACSPRI (Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research
Incorporated). Whereas the SSDA acquires, preserves and distributes
social science data to Australian researchers; ACSPRI encourages and
supports activities which facilitate and enhance use of these data.
Membership of ACSPRI has grown by 5 in the past two years, and the
Consortium currently has 45 member institutions, including all 36 of
Australia's publicly funded universities and 9 Commonweath agencies.
Since the last report, the SSDA, in revamping its web pages
(http://ssda.anu.edu.au), implemented networked access to its documentation
and data by placing a number (currently 16) of its User's Guides online and
by developing its Online Analysis System in the Social Sciences (OASSIS),
enabling users to browse, search and/or download (in RTF) codebooks before
selecting (and recoding) variables for simple (frequencies & crosstabs)
analysis online. For more extensive analysis, data sets may be ordered
online by, and FTP'd to, users. The ACSPRI Newsletter/SSDA News and the
current Course Booklets for both the ACSPRI Summer and Winter Programs in
Social Research Methods and Research Technology may be browsed/downloaded
as well.
During the past two years, ACSPRI has conducted two more annual Summer
Programs at the ANU, and two additional Winter Programs in Adelaide and
Brisbane (in 1995 and 1996, respectively). In spite of substantial Federal
budget cuts to academia and the public service, all four Programs were
successful in attracting more participants then had the immediately
preceding Programs. The recently concluded 13th Summer Program, for
example, attracted 282 participants to twenty courses, and was, in terms of
the total number of courses taken, the largest to date.
However, the previous 1996 Summer Program was noteworthy for having
attracted research librarians from 8 Australian universities, the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS) to a special workshop, conducted as part of the Program, on
'Mainstreaming Social Science Data: Providing Data Services in the
Library'. Taught by North American IASSIST members Diane Geraci, Chuck
Humphrey and Jim Jacobs (aka the 'data amigos'), the five-day workshop,
while not immediately productive in terms of recruiting new Australian
members to the Association, succeeded in familiarising participants with
data library 'best practices' as they might apply to, and/or be modified
by, local circumstances.
None of the participating librarians had previous 'hands-on' computer
readable data processing experience, but they rated the workshop highly, as
did the 'data amigos' who, on departing Australia, wrote: "We had a great
time! And no complaints (well, except for the urinals and the fact that
you can't get a decent cookie). Really enjoyed meeting your colleagues....
" (from: Amigos, Data, "It's time we face reality, my friends.... We're not
exactly rocket scientists.", Thank You Card, Canberra: Jan. 1996.).
SSDA/ACSPRI continue to work to facilitate academic user access to ABS unit
record data, though an 'understanding' reached in early 1995 between
ACSPRI/SSDA and the ABS for distribution of the Bureau's existing and
proposed confidentialised unit record files, or CURFs, did not achieve
formal agreement. That arrangement would have improved academic access to
ABS unit record data by halving the cost of purchases by academic
institutions from $5000 to $2500; currently, however, only the Time Use
Survey 1992 and Family Survey 1993 are being distributed under the above
pricing arrangement.
The period of uncertainty regarding arrangements for the dissemination of
CURFs to academia coincided with the appointment in 1995 of the current
Australian Statistician. His subsequent internal review of the Bureau's
structure and policies resulted in a substantial reorganisation of the
senior executive levels and a (seemingly) more restrictive interpretation
of the Census and Statistics Act (and the most recent Ministerial
Determination) that guide release of 'unidentifiable unit records'.
According to the C&S Act, the ABS cannot release data 'in a manner that is
likely to enable the identification of a particular person or
organisation'; the Determination requires recipients to sign an undertaking
that they must not attempt to identify individuals or organisations, that
the information will be used only for statistical purposes and that it will
not be disclosed to other individuals or organisations. Moreover, to quote
the Statistician: "If I consider it necessary, I can impose further
conditions...This Determination is an enabling Determination; it does not
compel me to release unit record data. Before I authorise the release of
microdata I need to be satisfied that ABS guarantees in respect of
confidentiality are not only met, but are seen to be met." And, since
"this is a very sensitive area" his decisions, which are informed by advice
from the ABS's Microdata Review Panel, "are made on a case by case basis"
(from: McLennan, W., "The Product of The Australian Bureau of Statistics",
Austral. J. Statist. 38(1), 1996, 1-14).
In the event, the ABS is now charging (academic and non-academic)
purchasers $7500 for each CURF created after 1 July 1996; no new CURFS are
available for secondary distribution by the SSDA; and no CURFs can be
distributed outside of Australia. It was in this context that a feature
article, based on materials generously supplied by Wendy Watkins and Chuck
Humphrey, on the Canadian Data Liberation Initiative (March '96 ACSPRI
Newsletter) generated enthusiasm among data users Down Under, and sparked a
cautious response from the ABS (see Sept. '96 ACSPRI Newsletter), which is
now discussing ways and means.