Research Project

"Establishment of Social Science Data Archive in Bulgaria",
index BUL 18342505, (2002-2003)

1. Introduction

The research project “Establishment of Social Science Data Archive in Bulgaria" was implemented by Research Centre “Regional and Global Development" (REGLO) during the period October 2002 – September 2004

The main focus of the work in the course of the realization of the project was put on the equipment of Information and Data Dissemination Centre (IDDC), which will be the basis for the establishment of Bulgarian Social Science Data Archive (BSSDA). For that reason, the research team set itself the following goals:

First,to increase researcher’s awareness and understanding of the importance to set up Social Science Data Archive in Bulgaria.

Second, to make available for Bulgarian researchers data from international comparative surveys for secondary data analysis and thus, to help creating data sharing culture.

Third, to assess current problems and possibilities for consolidation and integration of sociological data as well as to identify prospects for cooperation among Bulgarian sociological research institutions.

Fourth, to promote international co-operation and exchange of experience in social science data archiving, and particularly in standards for data documentation, training of personnel, motivation of researchers to deposit data in the archive and guaranteeing copy right of the authors.

The establishment of IDDC has contributed favourably for making data from the surveys public, development of secondary data analysis, and data exchange with researchers abroad.

The UNESCO support of the project has important impact for the establishment and equipment of IDDC in the framework of the Research Centre “Regional and Global Development". In addition, the work on the project provided new possibilities for research and particularly for the access to EU know how in establishment of social science data archive. Finally, the work on the project realization has positive impact on the international activities of REGLO on the topic of research, which proved to be of great importance not only for Bulgaria but also for the rest of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In this regard, practical steps for international cooperation with the Central Archive for Empirical Social Research (ZA) in Cologne, Germany, Slovenian Archive for Empirical Social Research, Romanian Data Archive (RODA), Russian data bank and Czech data archive have been undertaken. All these institutions are expected to support further the activities of REGLO to sustain the project.

2. The main activities carried out in the framework of the project

• Establishment of Information and Data Dissemination Centre and equipment of two work stations with computer and other office technique for secondary data analysis;
• Desk research on the experience of Central and East European Countries in establishment of SSDA.
• Needs assessment: expert discussion among the main actors in the field of social empirical research in Bulgaria as well as expected users of data for secondary analysis. The analysis of the results was used in the preparation of the design of the Archive.
• Publication of the results from the needs assessment and expert study: Yantsislav Yanakiev, Prospects for Establishment of Social Science Data Archive in Social Science Data Archives in Eastern Europe. Results, Potentials and Prospects of the Archival Development. Brigitte Hausstein and Paul de Guchteneire (Eds.), Ferger Verlag. Berlin, Cologne, Paris 2002.Available also in Internet http://www.gesis.org/en/cooperation/data_service/eastern_europe/SSDAEE.pdf
• Collaboration in the framework of East European Data Archive Network (EDAN). EDAN was established to acts as an informal network designed to unite data archives which are at an early stage of their existence and share common problems as well as to make sure that the Eastern European data archives will catch up with the advanced western data archives.
• Specialized training in social science data archiving. As far as there are no experienced researchers in data archiving in Bulgaria, two Bulgarian experts undertook two-week training in the Central Archive for Empirical Social Research in Cologne and GESIS branch Office in Berlin, Germany.
• Data acquisition: More than 20 recent sociological surveys and opinion polls, most of which have been already documented with codebooks in Bulgarian and English and made available for secondary data analysis
• Documentation of recent sociological surveys according to international standards for data documentation.

  The following nation-wide representative surveys has been documented during 2003: “Attitudes towards Drugs and Drug Use among the Bulgarian youths – 1998"; “Public Perceptions of Interethnic Relations in Bulgaria – 2003"; “Public Opinion on the Bulgarian Security Policy – 1999"; “Public Opinion on the Bulgarian Security Policy – 2000"; “Public Opinion on the Bulgarian Security Policy – 2001"; All surveys except 2003 one are with “A" level of access to the data, i.e. – they are free for the scientific community. The data files, codebooks with data descriptions and questionnaires were made available also for German users in the Central Archive for Empirical Social Research (ZA) in Cologne.

  Sociological Surveys in process of Documentation in 2004: “Risks of Social Transformation in Bulgaria", 2000; “National Aspirations of the Bulgarians, 1998-1999"; “Education of Children and Parents, 2003"; Survey Related to the UNDP Human Development Report, 2001; “Attitudes towards Drugs and Drug Use among the Bulgarian youths – 1999"; “HIV/AIDS: Information, Knowledge, Behaviour, 2000"; “Small Parties and their Participation in Parliamentary and Local Elections, 1995-2002"; International comparative survey on different dimensions of poverty among ethnic minority groups, 2002"

• Print out and dissemination of information materials about the opportunities for secondary data analysis provided by the archive;
• Establishment of social science data bank from international surveys in which Bulgaria has taken part as well as nation-wide representative surveys and making data available for secondary analysis by Bulgarian researchers and colleagues abroad (European Values Study, 1999-2000; Central and Eastern Eurobarometer, 1990-1997; International Social Science Program (ISSP) surveys).
• Study visit at Slovenian Archive for Empirical Social Research and participation in the Second EDAN Training Seminar. The seminar took place at the Slovenian Data Archive (ADP) at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) in June 2004. It covered the basics of producing Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) codebooks and was intended for DDI beginners. This seminar introduced the structure of the DDI metadata format and demonstrates how to produce DDI compliant codebooks. Experts from Bulgaria, Spain and Germany took part in the seminar.
• Design and publication of web page and providing possibilities for on-line analysis of data from recent surveys;
• Organization of International Workshop on the topic “Best Practices in Social Science data Archiving". The workshop was integrated in the third Summer School and took part in Sofia on 10-12 September 2004. More than 35 participants from 24 countries attended the seminar. Lecturers from Bulgaria, Germany and Slovenia presented their experiences in establishment of national social science data archives.
• Publication of monograph: “Best Practices in Social Science data Archiving", which contains chapters written by experts on social science data archiving from Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and Czech Republic.

3. Main identified problems

• Ownership of the Data: Usually the data producers are not owners of the data and embargo provisions are in imposed by the fenders. Data files and documents normally come under the control of research team leaders or heads of research institutions. There exists a tendency of “privatisation of the data" as well as difficulties in data acquisition.
• Lack of commonly agreed regulations for data access and protection in the framework of the professional sociological community
• Lack of Data Sharing Culture among the researchers and data producers in Bulgaria. Three type of data producers have been identified which have different attitudes and operate under different regulations: (1) public and private academic research and educational institutions; (2) research institutes/centres of the state administration; (3) non-governmental organizations and think tanks, private profit-making sociological and marketing institutions.
• Significant data losses, lack or no documentation of the surveys, lack of information on the “cuisine" of the surveys: methodology of data collection, samples, etc.,

4. Some activities undertaken to provide sustainability of the project

• Providing additional funding from German Social Science Infrastructure Services (GESIS) in 2003 which made possible documentation of five surveys;
• Initiation of Consortium of data producers and potential donors in Bulgaria to provide sustainability of the project. At this stage the Consortium includes the following institutions: Research Centre “Regional and Global Development"; Agency for Socio-economic Analysis (A.S.A); Analytical Creative Group (ACG), Ltd; Institute for Advanced Defense Research; International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR) Research Agency “Marketing, Media, Analysis" (MMM); Individual researchers and research team leaders from the Institute of Sociology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Institute of Psychology – BAS, Sofia University, New Bulgarian University and Rakovski Defense College.
• Initiative to establish common regulations for data access, exchange and protection in the framework of Bulgarian Sociological Association;
• Support other archival initiatives in Bulgaria: Institute of Sociology – BAS, some private agencies, National Centre for Public Opinion Polls, etc.
• Initiative to guarantee that all public-funded surveys will be granted to the archiving and to include data documentation as a part of project plan;
• Development of training courses for the students on data archiving and opportunities for secondary data analyses.