DDI-Lifecycle and Colectica at the UCLA Social Science Data Archive

Abstract

The UCLA Social Science Data Archive’s mission is to provide a foundation for social science research involving original data collection or the reuse of publicly available studies. Archive staff and researchers work as partners throughout all stages of the research process, beginning when a hypothesis or area of study is being developed, during grant and funding activities, while data collection and/or analysis is ongoing, and finally in long term preservation of research results. Three years ago SSDA began to search for a better repository solution to manage its data, make it more visible, and to support the organization’s disaster plan. SSDA wanted to make it easier for researchers to look for data, to document their data, and use data online. Since the goal is to document the entire lifecycle of a data product, the DDI-Lifecycle standard plays a key role in the solution. This paper explores how DDI-Lifecycle and Colectica can help a data archive with limited staff and resources deliver a rich data documentation system that integrates with other tools to allow researchers to discover and understand the data relevant to their work. The paper will discuss how SSDA and Colectica staff worked together to implement the solution.