ESDS International, a specialist data service of the Economic and Social Data Service, can help users to locate and acquire data from other social science data archives within Europe and worldwide, via a system of data exchange agreements. Users from outside the UK should usually access the data via their national data archive or directly from the host archive. Some international datasets, such as cross-national surveys that can be used for comparative research, can be ordered or accessed via links to other sites from the Data Catalogue.

Eurobarometer Survey Series These surveys are conducted on behalf of the European Commission and are designed to monitor social and political attitudes. Since the early seventies nationally representative samples of individuals in all EU/EC member countries are interviewed in each spring and each autumn. Some of the data are available to explore and analyse online via the ZA Online Study Catalogue (ZACAT).
	European Social Survey This biennial survey covers over 20 nations and is designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Registration and online access is via the Norwegian Social Science Data Service (NSD) through Nesstar.
European and World Values Surveys These surveys are designed to investigate the nature and inter-relationship of value systems, their degree of homogeneity, and the extent to which they are subject to change across time. Registration and online access is via Bancos de Datos ASEP/JDS.
International Social Survey Programme This annual survey covers topics important for social science research. Every survey includes questions about general attitudes toward various social issues such as the legal system, gender, and the economy. There are also a number of special topics, e.g. environment. Some of the data are available to explore and analyse online via the ZA Online Study Catalogue (ZACAT).		European Election Study This sample survey of the voting age population in the member states of the European Union (EU) is fielded immediately following each European election.
	Latinobarómetro This annual survey involves around 19,000 interviews with the same survey instrument employed in all countries, allowing methodological and cross-national comparisons to be made. The UKDA has acquired ESRC funding for a three year licence, running from September 2007, to provide access to the Latinobarómetro.

Eurofound surveys The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) is an EU body, one of the first to be established to work in specialised areas of EU policy. The following Eurofound data are available via ESDS International: European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance (ESWT).
	Young Lives This is an innovative long-term project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four developing countries. The study is conducted in Ethiopia, India (in the Andhra Pradesh state), Peru and Vietnam. The available to all registered users for not-for-profit purposes via the ESDS.

Users may also identify data from other data archives using clickable maps, containing links to the web sites of other national archives, provided on the ESDS International web site.

     

Users can request the data via their ESDS account - see the hands-on task below. In most cases, ESDS International will be able to acquire these data. Data from other national archives are not stored permanently by ESDS - but each time a request is made, the data are obtained afresh from the host archive so that the most recent version of the data and documentation is supplied.

This example task will take you through finding and ordering national election survey data with USA coverage. From the ESDS International web site select top tab Data, then side tab Micro data. Select North American Data Archives/North America, then the link to ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Science Research) - bottom left on the map. Use the ICPSR Search for "national election" in the title. Make a note of the study number and title of the dataset.

Go to the ESDS web site, Login, and go to Usage details. Register a new use of data or select one from your registered usages. Click on Usage title. Select the GO button next to 'Order or view previous orders for datasets from a non-UK archive that do not have a study number in our online catalogue'. Complete the details including the originating archive name, the study title and the study number of the dataset. Submit the order.

I3 Guide to accessing international survey (micro) data