I attended the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) annual conference in Edinburgh, 1-2 June 2017. There were around\u00a0300 delegates with almost 100 talks. Attendees were from across the UK, Korea, Italy, Germany, Australia and the United States, this included representative from various Governments, Funders, Academia & members of the Scottish Public Panel.<\/p>\n
The Administrative Data Research Network gives trained social and economic researchers access to linked, de-identified administrative data in a secure environment.<\/p>\n
Definition of routinely collected administrative data: Information collected primarily for\u00a0administrative<\/strong>\u00a0(not research) purposes. These\u00a0data<\/strong>\u00a0are collected by e.g. hospitals, schools, police, government departments (plus many more!) for the purposes of registration, transaction and record keeping to enable the delivery of that service. For example, patient records are created to enable the clinician to record diagnoses, prescriptions, referrals and tests requested.<\/p>\n I attended because of the relevance of this research network to a number of the studies being undertaken within the Centre for Trials Research (CTR) as well as relevance to my role as data linkage | routine data lead for the CTR.<\/p>\n I was keen to attend talks to hear about other researchers using similar data sources as some of the studies I work on such as health, education and social care data as this will help us to learn how to both clean and analyse the data and how to interpret the findings.<\/p>\n The governance around using routinely collected data is also of interest and hearing how other studies\/departments have set up their infrastructure and processes is relevant to help improve the Centre for Trials Research. \u00a0There are changes to how data are defined in the new GDPR that may have an impact on the use of these data, as well as the new Digital Economy Act that is now in effect.<\/p>\nIntegrating research in the Centre for Trials Research<\/h2>\n