[DDI-users] questions about a couple of DDI elements

[Katherine McNeill-Harman]

Hi there,

We're doing our first project of actually creating a DDI codebook (in 2.1) to a study (hand-coding, it's a one-time project on a very small data set).  I've been on the theoretical end of things up until now, so I have a couple of nitty-gritty questions to ask as I go over the elements.  I don't see much action on this list, so if this isn't the right place to post my question, please let me know.  And if any of these questions lend themselves more to a phone call than an email exchange, I'm happy to chat.

1) Our data file is tab-delimited, rather than fixed field.  Element 3.1.6, Data Format, does let us specify that.  However, when I get to element 4.3.1, Location, I only see the ability to specify the start/end of a variable (as you'd do in a fixed-field dataset).  The tag library says for that element "Note that if there is no width or ending position, then the starting position should be the ordinal position in the file, and the file would be described as free-format."  Is that the way we'd handle tab-delimited?  And if we do use "ordinal position in the file," then would we just put as the value the sequential number of the variable (i.e. 1 for the first, 2 for the second, etc.)?

2) The data file is based on a qualitative study (coded interviews) so many of the fields have text in them.  Am I missing somewhere the ability to specify if a variable is numeric, alpha, alphanumeric, etc.?

3) The DDI codebook is intended to describe the data as we've published it in a single tab-delimited file.  However, we will distribute in the same venue other versions of the data, namely some subsets of the data and versions in other software formats, such as FileMaker Pro (note: for various reasons I won't go into here, we're not taking the time to describe those in detail in the DDI).  These other files will not be documented by the DDI but I'm wondering where to refer to them.  We're using Other Study Materials in 2.5 to refer to a textual report that goes with the data file; would that be an appropriate place for these other files?  From my reading of the elements, I wouldn't think they'd belong in Other Related Materials in 5.0 or 2.4.1.4, Extent of Collection, but I'm not sure.

4) As this is my first time doing this, might there be a volunteer out there who'd be willing to look over my file before we publish it?

Thanks,
Kate McNeill-Harman

___________________________________________
Katherine McNeill-Harman
Data Services and Economics Librarian
Dewey Library for Management and Social Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
mcneillh at mit.edu | 617-253-0787
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/data/