Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA)

ISSDA fills a long recognised need in Ireland as it holds an ever-increasing quantity of machine-readable data from surveys and official statistics (such as the Census) and makes them readily available to users in the academic, public and commercial sectors.

About ISSDA

Established in 2000 under the auspices of the Geary Institute, the aims of the ISSDA are to:

• Ensure wider access to datasets
  
• Encourage secondary analysis of older data in order to track trends over time
  
• Offer training and advice in the access and exploitation of available datasets
  
• Advance the promotion of international comparative studies of the Irish economy and Irish society through links with equivalent archives in other countries
  
• Make datasets available for analysis by postgraduate and in undergraduate students, to facilitate the wider acquisition of data analysis skills.
  

Funding

The ISSDA is funded under PRTLI Cycle 4.

Outputs

As the archive grows, it will contain an ever-expanding range of datasets of use to the Irish social science research community.

These will include:

• CSO datasets, such as the Small Area Census Data (SAPS), the Household Budget Survey, and the Quarterly National Household Survey
  
• ESRI datasets, such as the School Leavers Survey
  
• Data from the National Election Study
  
• International comparative datasets, such as the Eurobarometer and ISSP series.
  

Data will be distributed both on CD-ROM and online, and ISSDA is committed to investigating and deploying new technologies such as NESSTAR to ensure the safest and most efficient dissemination of data in the future.

Collaboration

Managed jointly by UCD and the Economic and Social Research Institute, ISSDA also has the collaboration and support of the Central Statistics Office.

Learn more

• Visit the ISSDA website