Arja Kuula and Arja Tuuliniemi

The seminar participants who use DDI are not supposed to give a detailed list of their practices of choosing and filling in the elements - unless they wish to do so. We want to give the list of DDI elements that are used in the FSD as an example of an archive which has started to use DDI from scratch. Every correction, suggestion and recommendation is welcome!

Document description <docDscr> 1.0

Citation <citation> 1.1

Title statement <titlStmt> 1.1.1

Title <titl> 1.1.1.1: Authoritative title of the marked up codebook which is usually the same as the title of the data collection.

Producer <producer> 1.1.3.1: The producer of the marked-up document is the person or organization with the responsibility for the marked-up document. Usually FSD, which is the default entry in the description template. In addition there is a link to organisation list. 

Production date <prodDate> 1.1.3.3: Date the marked-up document was produced.

Study description <stdyDscr> 2.0

Citation <citation> 2.1

Title statement <titlStmt> 2.1.1

Title <titl> 2.1.1.1: Full authoritative title of the data collection, in most cases identical to the title of the marked-up document (1.1.1.1).

ID Number <IDNo> 2.1.1.5: FSD's archive number for the data collection.

Authoring entity <AuthEnty> 2.1.2.1: The person, corporate body, or agency responsible for the data collection's substantive and intellectual content. Link to the affiliation list.

Producer <producer> 2.1.3.1: The producer of the data collection. Link to the affiliation list.

Copyright <copyright> 2.1.3.2: In the description template there is as a prescription text: "In accordance with an agreement between the FSD and the depositor".

Production date <prodDate> 2.1.3.3: Date the data collection was produced.

Distributor <distrbtr> 2.1.4.1: The organization designated by the author or producer to generate copies of a particular data collection including any necessary editions or revisions. Usually FSD, included with URL-address. Link to the affiliation list.

Depositor<depositr> 2.1.4.3: The name of the person (or institution) who provided this data collection to the archive storing it. Link to the affiliation list.

Deposit date <depDate> 2.1.4.4: The date that the data collection was deposited with the archive that originally received it.

Series name <serName> 2.1.5.1: The name of the data series to which the collection belongs.

Study scope <stdyInfo> 2.2

Subject information <subject> 2.2.1

Keyword <keyword> 2.2.1.1: Words or phrases that describe salient aspects of a data collection's content. It is used for building keyword indexes and for classification and retrieval purposes. The vocabURI attribute specifies the location of the Finnish thesaurus.

COMMENT: In the Finnish language there is not an exact translation for 'keyword'. Instead, we have a commonly used Finnish word for subject information of research, books, data etc. and it's literal translation into English would be 'topicword'. So, in practice we use Keyword in a bit different way than some others. In FSD documentation the Keyword element consists of 5-10 subject areas which describe the intellectual content of the data.

Topic classification <topcClas> 2.2.1.2: Branch of science. Vocab- and VocabURI attributes are used. Link to the list. For instance one data can be classified in this field as 

<topcClas>sociology<topcClas> <topcClas>peace research<topcClas>

COMMENT: The official DDI 1.0 description for Topic classification says that "field indicates the broad substantive topic(s) that the data cover. Library of Congress subject terms may be used here. The vocab attribute is provided for specification of the controlled vocabulary in use, e.g., LCSH, MeSH, etc. The vocabURI attribute specifies the location for the full controlled vocabulary. Maps to Dublin Core Subject." We do find this description so similar to the Keyword (2.2.1.1.) field, that we prefer to use here our own field, which is branch of science.

COMMENT: In the official DDI 1.0 description for abstract listing of major variables in the study is recommended. We do not list the variables, because in the FSD almost every documentation has a link to questionnare (in pdf-format) and to the codebook from where all the variables and their frequences can be found. If the data is searched through Nesstar, information on every variable can be found in Variable Description.

Time period covered <timePrd> 2.2.3.1: The time period to which the data refer.

Date of collection <collDate> 2.2.3.2: Contains the date(s) when the data were collected. The event attribute is used to specify "start", "end", or "single" for each date entered.

Country <nation> 2.2.3.3: Indicates the country or countries covered in the file. Link to the abbr-list, where SFS-EN ISO 3166-1 standards are used for abbreviations of nations.

Geographic coverage <geogCover> 2.2.3.4: Information on the geographic coverage of the data. Includes the total geographic scope of the data and any additional levels of geographic coding provided in the variables.

COMMENT: In the FSD this element is used to make previous element <nation> more accurate. Examples: If data covers all European countries this field is used to tell that the geographical coverage is Europe (ie. <geogCover>Europe<geogCover>). Or if Germany is mentioned among nations in previous field, Geographical Cover is used to show if coding is provided to distinguish former East and West Germany (ie. <geogCover>East Germany<geogCover>, <geogCover>West Germany<geogCover>). The same logic is used if Great Britain is mentioned among nations and coding is provided to distinguish Northern Ireland and England. It would be nice to hear, if our interpretation of this element is correct.

Unit of analysis <anlyUnit> 2.2.3.6: Basic unit of analysis or observation that the file describes. Link to the list of most common possible choices

Universe <universe> 2.2.3.7: A description of the population covered by the data in the file. The "clusion" attribute is used to specify which groups, parts etc. are included (I) in or excluded (E) from the universe.

Methodology and processing <method> 2.3

Data collection methodology <dataColl> 2.3.1

Time method <timeMeth> 2.3.1.1: The time method or time dimension of the data collection. The "method" attribute is included to permit the development of a controlled vocabulary for this element.

Data collector <dataCollector> 2.3.1.2: The entity (individual, agency, or institution) responsible for administering the questionnaire or interview or compiling the data. Affiliation attribute is used.

Sampling procedure <sampProc> 2.3.1.4: The type of sample and sample design used to select the survey respondents to represent the population. Link to the list of sampling types.

Mode of data collection <collMode> 2.3.1.6: The method used to collect the data; instrumentation characteristics. Link to the list of different modes of collection.

Type of research instrument <resInstru> 2.3.1.7: The type of data collection instrument used.

Sources statement <sources> 2.3.1.8:

Data sources <dataSrc> 2.3.1.8.1: Used to list the book(s), article(s), serie(s), and/or machine-readable data file(s)--if any--that served as the source(s) of the data collection.

Weighting <weight> 2.3.1.12: The weights applied to produce accurate statistical results.

Data access <dataAccs> 2.4

Data collection availability <setAvail> 2.4.1

Location of data collection <accsPlac> 2.4.1.1: Location where the data collection is currently stored. URI attribute used to provide a URN or URL for the storage site or the actual address from which the data may be downloaded.

Original archive where collection stored <origArch> 2.4.1.2: Archive from which the data collection was obtained; the archive of origin. Link to the list of archives.

Extent of Collection <collSize> 2.4.1.4: Summarizes the number of physical files that exist in a collection, recording the number of files that contain data and noting whether the collection contains machine-readable documentation and/or other supplementary files and information such as data dictionaries, data definition statements, or data collection instruments.

Completeness of collection stored <complete> 2.4.1.5: This item indicates the relationship of the data collected to the amount of data coded and stored in the data collection. Information as to why certain items of collected information were not included in the data file stored by the archive is provided.

Restrictions <restrctn> 2.4.2.3: Any restrictions on access to or use of the collection such as privacy certification or distribution restrictions is indicated here. There is in the description template The FSD uses a text:

<restrctn> Access to the materials granted for scientific and educational purposes; FSD's permission procedure.</restrctn> 

Citation requirement <citReq> 2.4.2.5: Text of requirement that a data collection should be cited properly in articles or other publications that are based on analysis of the data.

Deposit requirement <deposReq> 2.4.2.6: Information regarding user responsibility for informing archives of their use of data through providing citations to the published work or providing copies of the manuscripts.

Disclaimer <disclaimer> 2.4.2.8: Information regarding responsibility for uses of the data collection. There is in the description template The FSD uses a text: 

<disclaim>The depositor of the data and the FSD bear no responsibility for interpretations or inferences based on the data<disclaim>

Other study description materials <othrStdyMat> 2.5

Related material <relMat> 2.5.1: Describes materials related to the study description, such as appendices, additional information on sampling found in other documents, etc. Can take the form of bibliographic citations.

Related Study <relStdy> 2.5.2: Information on the relationship of the current data collection to others (e.g., predecessors, successors, other waves or rounds) or to other editions of the same file.

Related publication <relPubl> 2.5.3: Bibliographic and access information about articles and reports based on the data in this collection. These can take the form of bibliographic citations. Link to directions of making bibliographic citations.

3. DATA FILE DESCRIPTION 

Data files description <fileDscr> is filtered from datafile. It includes

• Overall Case Count 3.1.4.1 
• Overall Variable Count 3.1.4.2 and 
• Type of File 3.1.5.

4. VARIABLES DESCRIPTION

Variables description <dataDscr> is filtered from datafile. It includes

• Variable Group 4.1 ("name", "dcml", "intrvl") and 
• Variable Label 4.2.2 ("level").

5. OTHER STUDY RELATED MATERIALS

Other study related materials <otherMat> 5.0

Text <txt> 5.2: Lengthier description of other material. Usually information about codebooks and questionnaires.