Introduction to accessing data

Accessing data

There are a number of ways of accessing qualitative data supported by ESDS Qualidata:

Registered users can:

• order/download the data and documentation in a variety of software formats and media
• explore data online
• view data in person

Data formats

Many of the datasets made available by ESDS Qualidata are personal interviews in text format. They are available in a range of formats, the most popular being Word, Adobe PDF or plain text (RTF). To use these formats, users will need to have access to the appropriate software, which ESDS Qualidata does NOT supply.

ESDS Qualidata has developed and piloted a common standard based on XML for mark-up of qualitative data as part of its ESDS Qualidata Online initiative.

Please note: ESDS Qualidata does not supply written reports or publications, although references to the latter are provided in our online catalogue records, where posssible there are links to existing online reports, but otherwise reports can usually be obtained from academic libraries.