University students can access Statistics New Zealand information and data exclusively available to universities made possible through an initiative between the Council of New Zealand Librarians (CONZUL) and Statistics New Zealand.
What’s available for universities?
Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs)
CURFs are unit record datasets that have been modified to protect the confidentiality of respondents. CURFs may be used for any research project or data investigation. They can be a useful instrument for easing into research and running simple analyses and for gaining insights into data patterns.
Under the terms of the CONZUL agreement universities have free access to all New Zealand CURFs. These are provided on a CD-Rom which allows for easy desktop access. In addition there is free access to all Australian CURFs produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics via their Remote Access Datalab.
Synthetic Unit Record Files (SURFs)
A SURF is a synthetic microdata product which is free and publicly available. SURFs contain synthetic unit records that mimic the statistical properties of real microdata. They can be used for teaching and learning purposes or as a source of unit-record data for developing analytical methods or statistical processes. The New Zealand Income Survey Super SURF is a set of 100 SURFs based on data from the NZ Income Survey: June 2003 quarter. Each SURF contains around 11,000 records and a mixture of numerical and categorical variables.
Data packages
Each data package contains an extensive series of Excel tables from a number of datasets. The data packages are available exclusively to universities participating in the CONZUL agreement. The data in the tables has been chosen to cater for the wide ranging information needs of academic and research staff.
Customised data
If you still can’t find the exact data you are looking for, it may be possible to customise data for you. Each university is allocated a set amount of hours for the provision of customised data. This is for any of the datasets produced by Statistics NZ.
What’s available
- Table Builder: a powerful table producing tool allowing users to define their own parameters, and source information on various topics themselves.
- Infoshare: a simple web-based tool used to access, view, and download the most up-to-date information from the largest directly accessible database of New Zealand official statistics.
- Interactive Boundary Maps: a visualisation application that allows you to view the boundaries for Statistics New Zealand geographic hierarchies.
- Business Toolbox: quick and easy access to information to help with business planning and information on target markets.
How do you benefit?
Statistics New Zealand collects a wealth of information that enables us to inform and assist in research, planning, making policy, or simply monitoring trends. This initiative with universities is about providing information to support university research and build the statistical capability of universities.
Together with information we currently disseminate we have information to help you:
- complete your research with free access to New Zealand and Australian Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs).
- understand much more about society by accessing our Data Package tables.
- access detailed data that meets your specific needs.
Who to contact
Your university contact officer can tell you how might be able to access this free information. All university contact details can be found by going to:
The contact details for your contact officer are listed below.
The University of Auckland
Gillian Ralph
Business Information Services
The University of Auckland Library
g.ralph@auckland.ac.nz
Phone: +64 9 373 7599
www.auckland.ac.nz
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Amanda Cole
Manager, Information and Education Services
AUT University Library
amanda.cole@aut.ac.nz
Phone: +64 9 921 9999 ext. 8675
www.aut.ac.nz
The University of Waikato
Kathryn Parsons
New Zealand Collection Librarian
University of Waikato Library
kparsons@waikato.ac.nz
Phone: +64 7 838 4466 ext. 8179
www.waikato.ac.nz
Massey University
Noelene White
New Zealand Pacific Librarian
Massey University Central Library
n.b.white@massey.ac.nz
Phone: +64 6 356 9099 ext. 2121
www.massey.ac.nz
Victoria University of Wellington
Collection Management
Victoria University of Wellington Library
library-col-mngt@vuw.ac.nz
Phone: +64 4 463 6532
www.vuw.ac.nz
University of Canterbury
Heather Jenks
Associate University Librarian (Research & Learning Services)
Central Library
heather.jenks@canterbury.ac.nz
Phone: +64 3 364 2987 ext. 8720
www.canterbury.ac.nz
Lincoln University
Craig Murray
Reference and Information Librarian
George Forbes Memorial Library
craig.murray@lincoln.ac.nz
Phone: +64 3 325 2811 ext. 8529
www.lincoln.ac.nz
Emily Cooke
Reference and Information Librarian
George Forbes Memorial Library
emily.cooke@lincoln.ac.nz
Phone: +64 3 325 2811 ext. 8533
www.lincoln.ac.nz
Otago University
Thelma Fisher
Academic Liaison Librarian - Commerce and Humanities
University of Otago Central Library
Reference Department
thelma.fisher@otago.ac.nz
Phone: +64 3 479 9020
www.otago.ac.nz