About the ADA

About the ADA…

The Australian Data Archive (ADA) is a Core Trust Seal certified repository, based in the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods (CSRM) at the Australian National University (ANU). ADA was established at the ANU in 1981 with a brief to provide a national service for the collection and preservation of digital data relating to social, political and economic affairs and to make these data available for further analysis.

The ADA:

is a Core Trust Seal certified repository

acquires, documents, preserves and disseminates data online to a broad range of social science researchers in the university, government and other sectors

provides the only comprehensive social science data collection in Australia, with a catalogue of over 5000 data sets

holds data from Australian surveys, opinion polls and censuses and includes data from other countries within the Asia Pacific region

is continually expanding and diversifying its collection

provides specialist services within specific subject areas, including Indigenous studies, electoral behaviour, criminology and some humanities disciplines, and within specific data types, including quantitative, qualitative, time series and panel data, and historical statistics

locates and manages access to overseas social science data sets required by Australian based researchers

adopts, develops and applies standards in line with international best practice (such as DDI and OAIS model)

belongs to international organisations (such as the International Federation of Data Organizations and the International Association of Social Science Information Service and Technology) and plays a major role in cross-national collaborative projects

plays an important role on behalf of the Australian Research Council (ARC) through the management and dissemination of ARC funded data collections arising from Discovery and Linkage grants

A team of professional data archivists, advised by a panel of leading social scientists, provides both stewardship and outreach services to the Australian community.

The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) provides the online data services and supporting infrastructure, and develops this cyberinfrastructure for the needs of the ADA.