SSDA Deposit Procedures

The Australian Research Grants Committee has agreed that successful applicants in the social sciences and humanities lodge any data arising from their research with the SSDA for re-use by other investigators.

The Archives accepts only computer-readable data and requires, in addition, documentation describing the data set - for example, a questionnaire, coding frame and a copy of any documents or publications describing the data collection and processing procedures. A report of the survey results will often include all of the required information. No requirements are made about the form of this documentation, about coding conventions or about file format. However, some formats are much prefered to others and depositors are requested to contact the SSDA to obtain more details of deposit procedures.

Depositors may impose special access conditions on the use of their data, asking that they be informed of use being made of the data in order to comment on that use and make contact with colleagues with similar interests or, where use of the data is restricted, to give or withhold permission for use of the data. An initial period of embargo may also be placed on data to allow the original investigators to complete and publish their analyses.