The University of Tokyo Institute of Social Science is unique in Japan, consisting of researchers from four disciplines of social science, namely law, political science, economics and sociology. The three main pillars of the Institute's activities are (1) promoting joint research (institute-wide joint research projects, etc.), (2) conducting surveys (social surveys, community-based surveys, etc.) and (3) building research infrastructure(SSJ Data Archive, the Institute of Social Science Library). Of these, the SSJ Data Archive and social surveys, etc. were created and carried out at the Information Center for Social Science Research on Japan which was established in 1996 and building on this experience, was reorganized and renamed the Center for Social Research and Data Archives in 2009.
The Center comprises four groups which are: the Fundamental Survey Research Group, the Social Survey Research Group, the Quantitative Social Research Group, and the International Survey Research Group. The Fundamental Survey Research Group works with a variety of research agencies to gather large amounts of primary data in the SSJ Data Archive (SSJDA) and make it available for use by universities, research institutions and researchers throughout Japan. The Social Survey Research Group conducts the Japanese Life Course Panel Survey (JLPS) and cooperates with Osaka University of Commerce to conduct the Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS). The Quantitative Social Research Group, through secondary analysis research workshops and quantitative analysis seminars, etc., has as its goals, the promotion of cooperative research and fostering the development of young researchers. The International Survey Research Group establishes and maintains relationships with data archives throughout the world, and works to bring the SSJDA in line with international standards.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has the goals of strengthening the infrastructure for academic research in Japan and promoting new academic research. To this end it has created a system for establishing hubs for joint usage and cooperative research. In 2010, this Center became a hub for joint usage and cooperative research as a part of this system. Through these activities, the Center intends to take a leading role in the development of empirical social science research in Japan and the building of a network of East Asia social surveys and data archives. We would like to take this opportunity to ask all those involved for their cooperation with this Center in the future.
[SSJ Data Archive]
A data archive is an institution that collects and stores raw data (individual respondent data, or microdata) from statistical and social surveys to prevent it from becoming lost, and provides access to it for secondary use for academic purposes. Data archives exist in most Western nations, and constitute an integral part of research in social science and education. Due to the lack of institutional data archives in Japan, however, large quantities of empirical data collected over the years have gradually disappeared after their primary analyses were completed.
The University of Tokyo, Institute of Social Science, Center for Social Research and Data Archives created the Social Science Japan Data Archive (SSJDA) to support empirical research in the social sciences in Japan, and has been disseminating raw data since April 1998. SSJDA has continued to grow steadily, and has gathered more than 1000 data sets, which it now manages.
In recent years, there has been a heightened awareness of the need to protect personally identifiable information. Consistent with this, before making the data available to the public, SSJDA processes the raw data in such a way that individual respondents cannot be identified. We ask institutions which conduct social surveys to consider depositing their past survey data with SSJDA and allow us to make it available to be used for academic purposes.
It may be pointed out that if researchers who perform secondary analyses on the data do not have a sufficient understanding of the conditions under which the data was taken, there is a danger that they reach incorrect conclusions. To reduce such risks, at this Archive, in addition to providing the necessary information to users, we also conduct quantitative analysis seminars and secondary analysis workshops, etc. to ensure users conduct their analyses with sufficient understanding of the content of the surveys and survey methodologies. We continue to work hard to increase the amount of data available through SSJDA, and to improve our service, and we would like to take this opportunity to ask all those involved for their continued cooperation with this Data Archive.
[Japanese Life Course Panel Survey (JLPS)]
In recent years, the focus of survey research has shifted from cross-sectional surveys, which observe survey subjects at a single point in time, to longitudinal panel surveys, which track specific survey subjects over time. The Social Survey Research Group conducts its own panel survey, about how people work and changes in lifestyle, called the Japanese Life Course Panel Survey (JLPS). This survey comprises a longitudinal panel survey that has followed a group of high school graduates since they graduated in 2004 and two longitudinal panel surveys started in 2007, one of young adults (aged 20-34) and another of adults (aged 35-40).
In conjunction with the project, the Group publishes a discussion paper series, holds usage report conferences, and presents reports at academic conferences on an ongoing basis. For details, refer to the Project Website: http://ssjda.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/panel/ (in Japanese).
[Japanese General Social Surveys]
In 1998, in cooperation with Osaka University of Commerce, a multi-year longitudinal general survey of social consciousness and behavior called Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) was launched. After two pilot surveys, the first survey was started in the autumn of 2000 and continued until 2004.
The second phase started in 2004, with JGSS-2005A2006A2008Aand EASS(East Asian Social Survey)-2006A2008 being conducted at this time. EASS (East Asia Social Survey) is a cross-national comparison project in which researchers from Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China create a common question battery which is incorporated into surveys conducted in each country or region. In 2008 the Osaka University of Commerce JGSS Research Center was established as a Joint Usage and Research Center, authorized by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The University of Tokyo, Institute of Social Science will continue to assist with the operation of JGSS.
[SSJ Data Archive Research Paper Series]
The Center publishes the proceedings of seminars, the detailed descriptions of its administrative works, and reports on data usage in the SSJ Data Archive Research Paper Series. 44 papers in this series have been published as of 2009. Click here for a list of papers (in Japanese).
