[DDI-users] DDI tools to get SPSS to DDI 2.x

[Katherine McNeill]

I am creating a codebook of a survey done on campus, using <oXygen/> (in 2.0 or 2.1 because we're just looking for a simple codebook, and planning on using style sheets written for this version).  However, for reasons of privacy, I don't have access to the data file itself, created with SPSS by our Office of Institutional Research.  I'm working on the variable descriptions in the codebook and could enter them manually (I do have a PDF of the survey instrument), but for time (and my desire to model good DDI processes), I'm hoping to find a more efficient way to produce the variable metadata in some semi-automated way (from the SPSS file, I'm hoping).  The office that holds the data file isn't experienced with DDI, but I'm this may also be an opportunity to introduce them to the standard (if I can do so in a relatively convenient way).

A couple of options I've thought of (but have hit dead ends on both):

1) I'm aware of the ability of Stat/transfer to produce DDI 3.0 metadata.  So maybe they could create the DDI 3.0 on their end (if they have access to Stat/transfer) and then I could convert it to 2.x.  But I'm afraid I'm at a loss to find a tool to be able to convert the DDI 3.0 to an earlier version.  Maybe I'm missing something?

2) Another alternative (but seems to be more work on their part) is to find an easy tool for them to use to create the DDI 2.x right from the SPSS on their part.  However, I haven't seem to find one currently available that seems highly easy to use.  DDI DExT seems to be maybe a little too big of a learning curve.  I've also considered XCONVERT, but it has a couple of different steps and may not capture the question text.  Are there other tools out there for this that people could recommend?

Or maybe there's a third alternative I haven't considered.

Many of the tools listed on the DDI web site (http://www.ddialliance.org/resources/tools) aren't up-to-date (aside: I am on the group to update this system, and we're working on it...), and the availability of things can come and go, so I'm hoping that someone has some better tools or processes on their end that they can recommend/share.

Sincerely,
Kate McNeill

___________________________________
Katherine McNeill
Social Science Data Services and Economics Librarian
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
mcneillh at mit.edu | 617-253-0787
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/data/
http://libguides.mit.edu/econ

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