March 30, 2015
Photo credit: Luther Caverly
A Rich Research Data Resource Returns Home
History is repeating itself for Carleton’s Jennifer Stewart. In addition to her role as Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration, Stewart is also the incoming academic director of the Carleton, Ottawa, Outaouais Local University Research Data Centre (COOL RDC). Stewart, who is a busy researcher in the fields of health and labour economics, served as the inaugural academic director of the centre when it launched in September 2005. Nearly a decade later, she will resume her role with a mandate to promote the centre’s work and value across campus.
The COOL RDC is part of a national initiative to use Statistics Canada confidential master files to strengthen social research capacity and support social and economic policy analysis in Canada. The Ottawa centre is one of a network of 25 across the country and is backed by founding partners Carleton and the University of Ottawa, with the Université du Québec en Outaouais serving as a supporting partner.
Stewart was part of the group responsible for bringing the RDC to Carleton in the first place. She was exposed to the RDC concept during a post-doc fellowship at McMaster University, where she needed sources to support her research into family income and its impact on child outcomes, including math and reading scores and behavioural outcomes.
“I relied on the RDC a great deal and realized it was a valuable source of data,” says Stewart. “I saw how useful the concept would be here, and what an advantage it could be for Carleton in attracting faculty serious about research.”
Shortly after her arrival at Carleton, Stewart joined forces with fellow researchers and librarians and worked to convince senior administration that the need for a research data centre was real. Soon, colleagues at the University of Ottawa heard about the proposal and came on board.
The COOL RDC is part of a national initiative to use Statistics Canada confidential master files to strengthen social research capacity and support social and economic policy analysis in Canada
The centre eventually found a home at the University of Ottawa in the Morisset Library, though the concept is truly a bi-campus collaborative. Even the administrative functions of the centre are shared, with five-year directorship terms alternating between the two schools.
With a focus on engaging researchers in the social and health sciences, the COOL RDC provides access to major longitudinal studies such as the National Population Health Survey, the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth and the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, as well as the Census, Vital Statistics data and other administrative and business data. Before the acquisition of a local RDC, Ottawa-area researchers would have to travel to other cities or make special arrangements with Statistics Canada to access these types of data.
“Having our own RDC allows for a cost-efficient and equitable way to merge access to master data files,” says Stewart. “There is such a breadth of data available and we want to make that known.”
In the 10 years of the RDC’s existence, Stewart has seen the number of resources available to users increase, along with the number of topics under study.
“Statistics Canada has been able to increase the amount of data it can share and we’ve been helped along by improvements in general access to information and privacy legislation,” Stewart says. She adds that the breadth of data has expanded to encompass more of the social sciences, citing new projects on hate crime data as an example of particular innovation.
I saw how useful the concept would be here, and what an advantage it could be for Carleton in attracting faculty serious about research
Having an RDC is a definite draw for Carleton, and it’s absolutely essential to attract researchers who analyze the Canadian situation. I, for one, wouldn’t have been able to stay and work in Ottawa if the centre didn’t exist
With the expansion of data comes a growth in the number of researchers looking to use it. Currently there are about 130 researchers involved in the centre, including 30 PhDs and 20 master’s students.
“One of the great things about the RDC network has been allowing students to access data in a timely manner,” she says. “In fact, the RDC network is committed to increasing the number of students who use the service.”
An immediate focus area for Stewart in her new tenure will be to look at funding for the centre. Currently the RDC has a network of backing sponsors including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as well as funding for equipment from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The funding periods for both SSHRC and CIHR are presently under review as the funding cycles draw to a close. As their renewal is uncertain, Stewart is busy exploring new funding sources.
“Discussions are definitely underway on finding other potential sources of funding, including the government,” says Stewart. “The precedent has been set in Quebec, where the provincial government helps to fund RDCs in that province.”
Even with the question of subsidies looming overhead, Stewart is positive and excited about her approaching term. With growth predicted for the next five years of Stewart’s work as academic director, she says she has continued faith in the importance of the centre, both for researchers and the university as a whole.
“Having an RDC is a definite draw for Carleton, and it’s absolutely essential to attract researchers who analyze the Canadian situation,” she says. “I, for one, wouldn’t have been able to stay and work in Ottawa if the centre didn’t exist.”
More information about the RDC network, the research conducted in the centres, and available data sets is available at http://www.rdc-cdr.ca/about-crdcn
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