ESDS can advise teachers and students on many aspects of using data resources in lectures and for self-study.

The use of real-life data in teaching adds interest and relevance to courses, and, if the data are updated on a regular basis, ensures that the courses are pertinent to current substantive, theoretical and methodological issues. ESDS provide a number of tailor-made teaching and sampler datasets - these are subsets of larger datasets - which are ideal for introductions to data analysis. Many of the datasets in the ESDS collection are suitable for teaching purposes and it can be useful for more advanced students to gain their experience of data analysis from the use of 'unadulterated' data to give them an understanding and appreciation of the complexity of data analysis in the 'real' world. Students also have the opportunity to understand the rationale for collecting data, and can develop critical faculties to judge the strengths and weaknesses of particular data and the research strategies from which they were derived.

ESDS provides a broad range of social, behavioural and historical data which may be used to address many substantive topics. Such data may be used in conjunction with the main publications arising from the analysis conducted by the study's originators.

Students could be asked to replicate research already conducted, to extend this research or to examine the data from an entirely different perspective. By using the data directly, students gain a good appreciation of the limitations and variations amongst different data collection and analysis techniques. Examples include: calculating weights for the retail price index; or exploring the relationship between estimates of unemployment found in the Labour Force Survey and those from unemployment benefit claimant counts. There are datasets that enable comparative analysis to be undertaken, for example of behaviour or attitudes. The multi-country Eurobarometer Survey series or the International Social Survey Programme enable analysis across countries in the EU. The UK government data series that are typically conducted annually, such as the General Household Survey or the Health Survey for England, allow analysis across time.