gerrit de bolster september 24, 2013 generating blaise from ddi
TRANSCRIPT
Gerrit de BolsterSeptember 24, 2013
Generating Blaisefrom DDI
Holland
2
What is DDI?
On the web page of the DDI Alliance the following definition is found:“The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an effort to create an international standard for describing data from the social, behavioural, and economic sciences.”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:“The DDI is an international project to create a standard for information describing statistical and social science data (i.e., metadata). The DDI specification, written in XML, provides a format for content, exchange, and preservation of information.”
3
Where is DDI used?Gerri
t
4
Why should we use DDI?
DDI is an open standard expressed in the global supported standard XML
Since version 3 the concept of a data collection instrument was introduced
Using DDI for defining a data collection instrument opens the way for other organisations (including commercial software vendors) to create solutions
Instrument definitions can be re-used by other organisations
5
DDI fits in a “plug and play” architecture
POC
6
The Proof Of Concept
Create a DDI definition for an instrument samples available:
MQDS, QDT, Colectica, ddialliance.orgUse an existing generator (BLS-Wizard)
add a converter: DDI definition to generator input file
output: BlaiseIS 4.8 CAWI instrument Create a set of working samples
questionnaire, form, download portal, upload portal
7
A lot of references…
Demo
8
DDI alone is not enough!
Technical additions in the POC: Templates (including basic Menu file, adapted
ASP’s/XSLT’s) Layout definitions (Mode Library -> CSS) Type & procedure libraries Lookup data
(in the POC a definition in DDI was created) Etc.What should/could be included in DDI?Do we still speak a little bit Blaise language or include other standards (e.g. MathML, CSS)?
9
DDI instance: Instrument or Blaise?
DDI is not a programming language The Blaise source language is very richWhat is the added value to create a DDI definition for the Blaise source language instead of using Blaise? DDI aims at supporting a generic meta definition
for datacollection instruments
Create a generic meta definition for datacollection instruments, not another source language!
10
Lessons learned
DDI is a very open standard. A standard DDI instrument definition is a prerequisite for a successful use in the Blaise community.
DDI is not human readable. An Instrument Design Tool with a repository is a must!
DDI should be a stable open standard, upward compatible. The schemas of a later version (3.2) should still support a definition in an earlier version (3.1).
11
DDI Tooling: what’s next?
A Blaise community working group? A commercial product? No action at all?
I'm open for discussion!
Any questions?Or answers?
Thank you for your attention!
12