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What is Administrative Data?

Dr Alice Wickersham

Academic Lead, CAMHS Digital Lab - Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

25 April 2024

Have you heard of administrative data? It’s possible that you haven’t. But it’s everywhere - public services like schools, health services, and the criminal justice system (among many other public services) collect administrative data as part of their day-to-day operations.

Sometimes, researchers use these data to conduct important research. For example, as part of a recent fellowship funded by Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK), I used linked education records and police records to understand relationships between school performance and involvement in the criminal justice system. The population-level patterns we observe in the data can help us make recommendations to improve services and inform policy. Crucially, the data is de-identified before it’s shared with researchers like me, meaning that personal information is removed.

When I consult the public about my research using administrative data, I find that sometimes people are surprised to learn that information collected about them by public services is used for research. This lack of public awareness could pose a major problem if our work is perceived to be secretive and underhand, which in turn could erode general trust in public services and researchers.

For those of us conducting research using school records, I believe we have a particular duty to clearly publicise administrative data research among adolescents and young adults: school record data is being collected for this age group now, and is the future of educational research. So, I set about to promote awareness and support for administrative data research in this younger generation.

With the help of Really Bright Media, we produced a short, animated video to be shared online and through social media. The video was planned and produced in close consultation with the Young National Children’s Bureau Advisory Group, Lambeth Youth Advisory Group, and ADR UK. It explains how administrative data is used for research, describes some findings from my fellowship as a case study, explains how such findings could help young people and improve services, and emphasises how data is kept secure and anonymous for research.

We hope that this animated video will help to foster public awareness, support and trust in administrative data research.

Read more about the findings of this project here

With thanks to collaborators Dr Johnny Downs, Dr Rosie Cornish, Professor Stephen Scott, and the CAMHS Digital Lab.

In this story

Alice Wickersham

Alice Wickersham

Research Associate

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