# Presentation: 067405

## Richard L. Legault
Kathleen J. Smarick
University of Maryland

Christopher D. Maxwell
Michigan State University/The University of Michigan

Steven Chermak
Michigan State University

- Kathleen J. Smarick
- University of Maryland
- Christopher D. Maxwell
- Michigan State University/The University of Michigan
- Steven Chermak
- Michigan State University

- Creating a Data Archive to Facilitate Research on Understanding and Responding to Terrorism

- Paper presented at the Spring VAC Consortium Meeting, May 14-15, 2007, Bellevue, WA

## Expanding Knowledge through Sharing Research Materials

- In 2006,
- DHS & NSF funded START to develop an archive of *survey data* related to terrorism, preparedness and public responses to terrorism
- NIJ funded ICPSR to develop an archive and data resource center for terrorism related social science data
- These similar goals led to a partnership between the two projects in 2007

**T****errorism ****a****nd ****P****reparedness ****S****urvey ****A****rchive (TaPSA)**

**T****errorism ****D****ata ****R****esource ****C****enter (TDRC)**

## 
Archiving of social science data began in the United States in the early 1960s and several years later spread to the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

Among the oldest and largest collection of digital science data archives are housed at ICPSR.

Data holdings across ICPSR’s archives exceed 5,500 collections and 100,000 individual files.

The core support of ICPSR’s archiving and education activities is from over 500 Universities and Research Centers from around the world.

Many agencies across the U.S. Federal government support six topical archives at ICPSR 
U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice, jointly sponsor the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.

- Archiving of social science data began in the United States in the early 1960s and several years later spread to the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
- Among the oldest and largest collection of digital science data archives are housed at ICPSR.
- Data holdings across ICPSR’s archives exceed 5,500 collections and 100,000 individual files.
- The core support of ICPSR’s archiving and education activities is from over 500 Universities and Research Centers from around the world.
- Many agencies across the U.S. Federal government support six topical archives at ICPSR
- U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice, jointly sponsor the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.

## More than 60 researchers at 30+ institutions around the world

## The Mission of START

**“****The Maryland START Center will help strengthen the nation’s ability to understand the **root causes behind acts of terror** and the **motivations of terrorists** and those who enable them. And that is unwelcome news for terrorists. Because the more we know about the underlying factors that foment terrorism, the better prepared we are to fight and ultimately defeat it... **
**“****One of the reasons the Department decided to establish a Center of Excellence dedicated to the social and psychological aspects of terrorism is because this is a vital, often overlooked piece of the terrorism puzzle. It is an area that deserves close examination. Because the fact is: We do not fully understand the enemy we face today. The culture, lifestyle, belief system and practices of our adversary provide a stark contrast to our own.”**
**~ Charles M. McQueary, *****former Undersecretary,  ***
***Science and Technology***

## Mission of Data Archives

- To preserve research data for perpetuity.
- To facilitate and stimulate analysis of these data by distributing them in useable formats, creating finding aids (e.g., metadata), providing user support, and delivering educational programs.

## Goals of the Data Archive:

- to encourage the diversity of analysis and opinions through reproduction and extension of an original investigator’s work
- to promote additional research that can test new or alternative hypotheses, or use methods of analysis not envisioned by or available to the original investigator;
- to support studies to improve data collection methods and measurements;
- to facilitate education of new researchers; and,
- to assist in the creation of new datasets by combining data from multiple sources (Granda  2006; OER 2006; SSHRC 2002).

## Why a Terrorism Archive?

- To facilitate the accountability and transparency of research results.
- To improve basic and applied research on terrorism
- To serve the growing profession and improve the training of terrorism scholars

## Planned Features

- Two Search Features
- Text in study description (Metadata)
- Text in variable level
- Online analysis
- Bibliography of Data-Related Literature
- Resource Guides
- Controlling Access to Sensitive Data
- Downloadable
- Restricted/License Agreement Access
- Data Enclave
- Content based data presentation for non-academic research

## Slide 11

## Visualization Opportunities

- Geo-representations of descriptive data?
- Visual representations of online analyses?
- Suggestions?

## 
This research was supported in part by an appointment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Research Opportunity Program administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) under the DOE contract number DE-AC05-06OR23100.  All opinions expressed in this paper are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of DHS, DOE, or ORAU/ORISE.  This project is sponsored by the Office for Research and Evaluation, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice through an Inter-agency Agreement (2003-IJ-R-0004). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any office or agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, the University of Michigan, or Michigan State University.  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 524796. 

Comments pertaining to this presentation are invited and should be 

sent to Richard Legault at rlegault@start.umd.edu 

- This research was supported in part by an appointment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Research Opportunity Program administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) under the DOE contract number DE-AC05-06OR23100.  All opinions expressed in this paper are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of DHS, DOE, or ORAU/ORISE.  This project is sponsored by the Office for Research and Evaluation, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice through an Inter-agency Agreement (2003-IJ-R-0004). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any office or agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, the University of Michigan, or Michigan State University.  This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 524796.
- Comments pertaining to this presentation are invited and should be
- sent to Richard Legault at rlegault@start.umd.edu