About the data

Where do we get our data?

We initially collected the ARI documents from different departments and agencies that were published on the ARIs homepage on the gov.uk website.

We then went through each document to extract the individual questions. For each area we’ve tried to find the research question being asked, any background and what the next steps should be.

Since the database was launched, additional questions have been added directly to the system by individual departments, or by Overton on their behalf.

Did we alter the data at all?

To make the ARIs easier to search and browse we’ve added tags, topics and research fields.

• Tags are labels meant to highlight specific aspects of the question. They might be added manually by whoever wrote the question, or automatically generated by our system.
• Topics are subject categories picked from a taxonomy, and are used to help organise ARIs and make them easier to browse. The taxonomy we use is called IPTC Media Topics and was originally designed to be used by newspapers and magazines. We use them as a proxy for the broad policy areas relevant to each ARI.
• Research fields are also categories picked from a taxonomy, but here the taxonomy is a scholarly one. They reflect the academic subjects relevant to each ARI.

What is the similar questions section?

It’s sometimes hard to know if a different government department or organisation has asked a similar question before, perhaps just in a different context or with a slightly different focus.

For each ARI we’ve used a large language model (LLM) to find similar questions from other departments and these are displayed in the similar questions section.

What is the related projects section?

We’ve also used an LLM to find related projects that have been supported by the funding councils, the public bodies that direct research and innovation funding in the UK.

We get project and funding data from Gateway to Research, the UKRI’s publicly funded research portal.

Researchers and companies involved in related projects may have expertise relevant to that ARI, or their work might open up new, related lines of inquiry.