Freedom of Information (FOI) as a data collection tool for social scientists

Abstract

This paper evaluates a method of generating a unique dataset that has been underused-a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The UK's FOI Act came into force in 2005, allowing the public to make requests of publicly held data. We set out to understand the determinants of the quality responses to FOI requests. We also explain how requests can be made and provide suggestions to construct effective data-driven requests. We applied for data on hate crime from all police forces and on uptake of maternity leave from all universities. We find that observable characteristics of the local area, police force and universities neither determine whether the request was fulfilled, nor the speed of response, suggesting that the data from these FOI requests are representative of the institutions from which they were requested.

Love Thy Neighbour? Brexit and Hate Crime

“…Among the successful responses, some of the data provided were not in accordance with the requested format (e.g., providing quarterly or annual instead of monthly data). Clifton-Sprigg et al (2020) show that the observable characteristics of the police forces or the areas are not significantly correlated with the probability that a request was satisfied, suggesting that the data from these FOI requests are broadly representative of the institutions from which they were requested.…”

“…In practice CSP areas mostly overlap with the Local Authority areas in England and Wales. 4 For a fuller discussion of the data collected through the Freedom of Information requests and their representativeness, see Clifton-Sprigg et al (2020).…”

Hate in the Time of COVID-19: Racial Crimes Against East Asians

“…In the United Kingdom individuals and groups can use the Freedom of Information Act to request from public bodies the release of information which is not yet publicly available (see Clifton-Sprigg et al, 2020). Doing so requires sending a freedom of information (FOI) request.…”

“…Given the response rates to our request, we undertake checks similar to Clifton-Sprigg et al (2020) to ensure representativeness of the data. They can be found in Tables 1-4 in the Appendix.…”

Beyond the numbers: Utilising existing textual data for qualitative research in pharmacy and health services research

“…Some data is also accessible publicly or via public powers. For example, in the U.K. the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 49 enables citizens to request access to data relating to specific events from public organisations, such as hospitals, healthcare trusts and universities, and public bodies including local authorities and Government departments 50 . The data holder has a legal obligation to respond to the request within 20 days, either providing the data or explaining why the data cannot be released, for example due to national security, propriety or the data does not exist.…”