The main objective of the project was to develop a web site that would help people who are analysing social survey data to use the best statistical methods now available. The UK government, the Scottish Executive and the Economic and Social Research Council invest heavily in surveys to inform policies and to understand social processes. The anonymised data files from many surveys are available to policy makers within government and, free of charge, to researchers in UK Higher Education Institutions. The data are provided via the UK Data Archive and the Economic and Social Data Service supports users of the data. The web site is built around a set of six exemplars each one using data from a different survey. The web site also has sections on the theory of survey design and analysis and on computer software that can be used to analyse surveys. There are extensive links between the sections so that, for example, the theory behind the use of a particular method can be accessed from the exemplar which uses it.

The material to go on the site was developed jointly by a survey methodologist, working for one of the largest social survey organisations in the UK, and an academic with an interest in the practical side of survey analysis. The site structure, architecture and design were engineered by a computer scientist and a web designer was employed to bring all of this together. Once enough material was available on the site, a series of three workshops were held with participants from academic institutions, government, local authorities and survey organisations. Feedback from the workshops informed the further development and improvement of the web site. In the final stages of the project email feedback, from experts and non-experts throughout the world was obtained via announcements on specialised mailing lists. This provided pointers to additional improvements and features that were included on the site.