Framework

ANZLEAD has developed a Data Harmonisation Framework to capture the context and methodology for the data integration (in accord with FAIR data principles). The framework ensures that the process of organising this political science data is well documented and ongoing data harmonisation can be undertaken systematically. The high level view of the data collections available has been established that relates to the five key populations that political scientists investigate: the voting public, political elites, electorates, elections and parliaments.

For data harmonisation, a conceptual map was developed to understand how data from those different collections can be brought together. Capturing the social relationships between the entities represented in the data e.g., a political candidate can be part of a political party; and identifying legislative structures e.g., that the Governor General represents the Crown, are critical steps in understanding how to meaningfully and practically bring these data collections together.