DataFirst is a research unit at the University of Cape Town engaged in promoting the long term preservation and reuse of data from African Socioeconomic surveys. The unit's four-pronged approach to this includes:
- the development and use of appropriate software for data curation to support the use of data for purposes beyond those of initial survey projects
- liaison with data producers - governments and research institutions - for the provision of data for reanalysis
- research to improve in the quality of African survey data
- training of African data managers for better data
- training of data users to advance quantitative skill in the region.
The above strategies support a well-resourced research-policy interface in South Africa, where data reuse by policy analysts in academia serves to refine inputs to government planning.
