Cross-National and Intergovernmental Data: Paying for One-Stop Shopping

Many intergovernmental and governmental organizations produce their own interfaces for statistical data. With the exception of the Common Database which combines select data from many of the United Nations’ independent agencies, there is typically little cooperation for integrating data between agencies. Some universities have chosen to produce their own interface to merge data into a single source. One example is the Economic and Social Data Service from the United Kingdom. One may also rely on commercial sources. There are various questions to consider. Is a researcher likely to want to combine sources from various organizations? Is it logical to do so? Is the native interface good enough to use on its own and does it is easily allow the combining of data from various sources? Are the data from the original producer easily extractable? Does the original producer allow alteration of the data? Does your organization have the staff and expertise to design and maintain its own interface? Does your organization have the expertise to match changing data elements over time? Is there a commercial service, already in existence, that already does what you want? If so, how do the short-term and long-term costs compare? How would you treat documentation? How does the commercial vendor treat documentation?