Researchers increasingly recognise the value of public-use data for secondary research, thesis development, training and education and the development of independent research grants. As cutting-edge international studies are emerging across Asia, Latin America, Europe, and increasingly Africa, the opportunities for cross-national and comparative research are growing exponentially. This is a particularly exciting time to work, due to the large number of trained research professionals working within their home countries and providing culturally grounded interpretations of results. An ongoing barrier, however, is knowing where and what kind of data are available for secondary analysis. The creation and maintenance of sustainable data archives can be challenging but it offers clear advantages for a national and international research strategy. Data that is preserved can be used by multiple researchers, testing a variety of hypotheses and increasing the return on investment to the expensive process of data collection. Having an internally managed archival system also provides greater control and autonomy in the equitable distribution of data resources. This workshop, sponsored by IAFOR and NACDA will offer hands-on examples of how to discover data resources, obtain them and then implement them as part of a research strategy. Regardless of whether or not you are a student looking for a thesis topic, an instructor looking for research material for use in classroom teaching, or an established researcher looking for new opportunities, the wealth of publicly available data has created almost unlimited opportunities to explore new themes and to collaborate with other researchers worldwide.
Read presenter's biographies