From COMPASS Research Centre at the University of Auckland, we have been trying for 10 years to address one issue that has frustrated many in the Social Sciences over these 40 years that the conference speaks to. Indeed this is one of the major contributions of ACSPRI itself – the issue’s being that of a lack of skills in dealing with quantitative data within our discipline.

Around the world, many groups have lamented a shortage of quantitative skills among those entering the workforce. Research methods content has been cut from training programmes in order to retain student numbers, leading inevitably to those skills often not even being there to pass on.

COMPASS has long been working to alleviate these concerns within its influence. This presentation will discuss some of the history of our concerns, and the efforts of various groups in bringing them to the fore and addressing them elsewhere in the world, and will then describe what COMPASS has done in the area. We have been providing short courses in Social Science Research Methods (New Zealand Social Statistics Network, NZSSN) since 2005, archiving data online for easy accessibility (New Zealand Social Science Data Service, NZSSDS) since 2007, and teaching both quantitative and qualitative skills in social science courses at the University of Auckland, which have been available each year since 2010.