Oxford LibGuides: Data and Statistics for Social Sciences: Society

Qualitative data collections

Qualitative data collections (often in paper form) residing in Special Collections archives, regional archives and museums across the UK include:

Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York
Includes records relating to surveys and enquiries, including the York Poverty surveys from 1930 to 1950.
London School of Economics Archive
Collections held cover modern British political, economic and social history, the history of the social sciences with particular reference to economics and social anthropology, and the history of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mass Observation Online
This resource offers access to original manuscript and typescript papers, as well as printed publications, photographs and interactive features.
This is a collection of all the material from the Mass Observation Archive. It includes the entire File Report sequence 1937-1972, access to all of the Day Surveys, Directives and Diaries, 1937-1967, Mass Observation Publications 1937-1965 and 87 Topic Collection (e.g. e.g. Smoking Habits 1937-1965, etc.). The Worktown Collection includes material of a major study of the towns of Bolton (Worktown) and Blackpool (Holidaytown).
The resource also includes interactive maps, bibliographic resources and essays on various aspects of Mass Observation.
Useful for the study of social history, sociology, etc., of modern Britain, it covers topics such as abortion, old age, crime, eating habits, shopping, fashion, dance, popular music, coal mining, adult education, sex, reading, ethnic minorities, and the decline of Empire. It is a resource that will be welcomed by historians, literary scholars, sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists.

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
The Centre holds primary sources for modern British social, political and economic history, with special concentration on the national history of industrial relations, industrial politics and labour history.

UK Data Service
The UK Data Service provides access to high-quality social and economic data deposited into the UK Data Archive.
This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO at the homepage and register before use.
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Here you will find a single point of access to a wide range of secondary data including large-scale government surveys, international macrodata, NGO databases, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data. Access varies but initial authentication - as an academic researcher - is provided by your single sign on. Actual ability to access data varies between collections, some which may be downloaded or analysed in your browser window (open access), ordered and downloaded after registration (safeguarded access) or supplied following further approval and checks (controlled access). The UK Data Service also operates the ESRC Secure Data Lab as part of offering access to controlled microdata.
For assistance in acquiring datasets for research projects please contact John Southall, Bodleian Data Librarian Librarian
(john.southall@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) or refer to the Bodleian Data Library for further guidance.
NOTE: Please familiarise yourself with the three tier data access policy (open, safeguarded and controlled) and the conditions of use before searching for data or registering for a user account. https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/data-access-policy

UKDS has webpages to aid researchers looking specifically for data on particular themes:

Ageing
Data collections from key government and longitudinal surveys to international indicators and qualitative historical interviews.
Crime
Data include national crime surveys plus illegal drug use, workers in the criminal justice system, football hooliganism and community policing in Africa.
Labour
A full range of employment and labour market data from key government and longitudinal surveys to international indicators and qualitative historical interviews.
Poverty & social exclusion
A number of key collections on the complexities of poverty, living standards and social exclusion ranging from individual life courses to large scale surveys and country-level indicators.
Data Catalogue
You can search or browse catalogue for data collections, series, case studies, and ESRC outputs on Population, vital statistics & censuses; Employment & labour; Social stratification & groupings; Social welfare policy & systems; Law, crime & legal systems; Society & culture.