Allthough you can search across ARK by using the topics provided in the Quicksearch facility, it can be sometimes be useful to go directly to one of ARK's specialist sections. Details and links are provided below and in the menu of all ARK pages.

• ARK in Schools
  The aim of the ARK in Schools project is to provide suitable Northern Ireland-specific educational materials for schools, organisations working with young people and for young people themselves.
  

• Kids' Life and Times Survey
  The Kids’ Life and Times survey is an annual survey of all P7 children in Northern Ireland covering what they think about school and other issues important to children today. By inviting respondents to suggest topics for the next year's survey, we make sure that the issues covered are relevant to the lives of children in Northern Ireland today. Results available from 2008 on.

• Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey
  The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) is an annual survey monitoring the attitudes of people in Northern Ireland to a wide range of social and political issues. In this section you can look at the questionnaires for each year’s survey and search across all the results.
  
  
• Young Life and Times Survey
  The Young Life and Times Survey is the sister survey to NILT but is designed to monitor attitudes among young people in Northern Ireland to social and political issues.
  
  
• Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey
  The Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS) was an extension of the long-running British Household Panel Survey and was carried out by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). From 2003 to 2010, ARK housed a unit dedicated to facilitating users in their analysis of the NIHPS data.
  
  
• Surveys On Line
  Surveys On-Line provides quick and easy access to a range of social science datasets. Users can view tables of results and/or the questionnaire without having to analyse the full dataset themselves.
  
  
• International Social Survey Programme
  Each year over 38 countries participate in the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in which the same module of questions is asked cross-nationally. Northern Ireland has taken part in this exercise since 1989.
  

• Northern Ireland Elections
  This section includes information about elections in Northern Ireland since 1885 and detailed breakdowns of election results.

• CAIN: Conflict Archive on the Internet
  One of the most extensive sections of ARK the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) section is an encyclopaedic resource on ‘the Troubles’ in Northern Ireland.

• ORB - OnLine Research Bank
  This section currently contains a bibliography of key research studies focused on social policy in Northern Ireland with, in many cases, an summary of the work.
  
  
• Children's Database of Research Summaries
  This database is sponsored by the Children and Young People's Unit in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. The framework for the search categories is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This section currently contains a bibliography of key research studies focused on children in Northern Ireland with, in many cases, an summary of the work.

• Collating and Preserving Primary Material on the Northern Ireland Conflict
  The collation of information about qualitative material covering the 35 year span of 'the Troubles' in NI (content, availability, recording format etc.) into a single catalogue, particularly in instances where the material is 'at risk' of being lost. The project takes steps to procure or copy the material and lodge it in the Qualitative Data Archival Resource Centre (QUALIDATA) of the Data Archive at the University of Essex.
  
  
• Ageism
  As part of its programme of research on Older People, ARK has developed a pilot archive of in-depth interviews with older people looking at attitudes to ageing and ageism. The valuable information contained within these qualitative interviews complements the facts and figures produced by our other projects.
  

These sections can be accessed at any time from the the Specialist Sections menu in the navigation bar on the top of each page