The Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR) received a grant for $499,615 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers on a data project to expand access to the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive. 

 

“This funding will allow the research team to do high-quality research work using the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive and to train researchers to better use the data,” said Randall Olsen, professor of economics and CHRR director.

 

The research team is led by Olsen. Co-principal investigators are Morton O’Kelly, professor of geography and director, Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA); Lung-Fei Lee, professor of economics; and Joshua Hawley, associate professor; and Stéphane Lavertu, assistant professor, John Glenn School of Public Affairs. The Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive is affiliated with the Ohio Education Research Center, a collaboration of six universities and four research organizations that connect research, education, and policy for Ohio’s schools.

 

Using the new NSF grant the researchers will expand the community of users of the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive as they develop a shared research platform across multiple universities and local and state agencies. Using data sets from the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive, researchers from Ohio and elsewhere can study critical issues that inform policy in such areas as education and economic development, health, political and voting systems, and social services delivery.

 

The Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive archives state administrative data from education, higher education, and labor. The archive fulfills the Ohio Education Research Center’s objective of building, maintaining, and providing researcher access to secure, linked cross-agency administrative data.

 

The federal government has made substantial investments in the infrastructure of data into longitudinal data systems, but the integration of  data across agencies and the development of human capital to use the data have lagged. The project expands the infrastructure in Ohio to conduct data-intensive research by developing an open portal that allows researchers to examine data archive documentation and codebooks to assess whether the data meet their research needs.

 

The PIs have a focus on the use of longitudinal data systems to address important issues in STEM education, such as the impact of STEM schools and the persistence of young STEM researchers in postdoctoral experiences.

 

For further information, contact Randall Olsen, director, CHRR, at olsen.6@osu.edu; (614) 442-7348.