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The UK's largest digital collection of social sciences and population research data

Quantitative data subsets

Our work with the Research Data Alliance Data Citation Working Group helped us to consider the best way to cite subsets of data - for example, via the UK Data Service's numeric online data access systems such as Nesstar and UKDS.Stat.

In 2014, a unified citation approach (PDF) was proposed for the scientific data community.

While the tabulation and subset citation text has not yet been finalised, we propose:

{author} {year of publication of data collection} {title of tabulation or interview (optional)} {link to tabulation or interview} [Tabulation or Interview]. In {rest of citation for data collection including link to DOI}

Example in Nesstar

For Nesstar, an online survey data browsing tool, when a crosstab or a subset selected for download is chosen, the system URI is persistent, in that a user can replicate the subset download or table. These dynamic URIs can be used in conjunction with the collection-level DataCite DOI (the persistent identifier for the whole data collection).

Clarke, H. et al. (2014.) http://nesstar.ukdataservice.ac.uk/webview/index.jsp?v=2&submode=variable&study=http%3A%2F%2F155.245.69.3%3A80%2Fobj
%2FfStudy%2F6607&gs=129&variable=http%3A%2F%2Fdanessukds.essex.ac
.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfVariable%2F6607_V684&mode=documentation&top=yes
. In British Election Study Nine-Wave Panel Survey, 2005-2010 [data collection]. 2nd Edition. UK Data Service. SN: 6607, http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6607-2

As many of the data are behind an authentication wall, access to these subsets will require authentication.

Example in UKDS.Stat

A subset of data can be saved as a bespoke query table within UKDS.Stat. This example URI links to just such a table, created from the OECD Education Statistics for Tertiary-type A and advanced research programmes (Graduates) across a 14-year period for a range of countries. This link will always query and display the most recent edition of the data. Authentication and registration is required to access the data:

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2013). Graduates by field of education https://stats.ukdataservice.ac.uk//Index.aspx?QueryId=350. In OECD Education Statistics [data collection] Edition: 2013. UK Data Service. SN: 5588, http://dx.doi.org/10.5257/oecd/educ/2013