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Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)

WISERD represents a major investment in research infrastructure in Economic and Social Sciences across Wales, and in which Swansea University is playing a leading role. WISERD has initial funding for three years from the ESRC and HEFCW, with the aim being to achieve sustainability beyond this period. WISERD involves five Welsh Universities and researchers from a range of social science disciplines. In Swansea University, WISERD is based in the School of Business and Economics, with an emphasis on quantitative research, training and capacity building.
The quantitative analysis component, led by Swansea University, shares a number of the common aims of WISERD, specifically:

To build upon and develop existing expertise in quantitative research methods and methodologies.
To build networks of researchers and research capacity across Wales in the economic and social sciences, as well as contributing to UK wide research capacity building.
To explore the relationships between research data, research methods and the development and understanding of policy.
To develop a sustainable increase in the quantitative research base across the social sciences in Wales through academic appointments and training.
To increase collaborative interdisciplinary research grant applications and interaction with policy makers and the private sector through consultancy.

The quantitative research being undertaken in Swansea mainly relates to the secondary analysis of existing large national data sets. There is also an aim to produce new data either through in-house surveys or through the integration of existing data sets, which had previously not been linked. The research will focus on making intra-national comparisons within Wales, as well cross-national comparisons between Wales and other regions in the UK and internationally. Emphasis is given, therefore, to the spatial analysis of economic and social issues across a range of different geographies. As well as undertaking collaborative research with other social scientists, WISERD staff will provide training in a range of statistical techniques used to analyse large micro datasets, with the aim of both producing papers and submitting research grant applications.

Examples of current research projects include:

Productivity and Competitiveness in Wales

Innovation and Technical Change in Wales

Labour Markets in Wales

Social Capital, Health and Well-Being

Regional Inequalities in Wales

Training will address a number of issues relating to the use of large micro data sets. There will be a strong emphasis on developing modelling expertise and the ability to handle data as well as the computational challenges of using such data in order to respond to the rapid growth in the availability of data in recent years. The aim is provide a range of training sessions, starting with analysis of relatively simple cross-sectional datasets to the more advanced modelling techniques that can be used to examine more complex types of data such as panel data.