Many projects across a wide variety of substantive fields use and support the DDI including the following:
California Digital Library's "Counting California" Project
The initiative provides a single interface that facilitates access to a wide range of social and economic data on California. Documentation underlying "Counting California" was tagged using Version 1 of the DDI specification.
Center for Comparative European Survey Data
The threefold aim of this project is (1) to provide specialist
support for members of the academic community wishing to work with
secondary, comparative European survey data sets; (2) to develop
information systems designed to improve the accessibility of
comparative survey data; and (3) to carry out methodological research to
improve the conceptualisation and operationalisation of inter-national
and inter-cultural analyses. Users are able to obtain custom output from the CCESD system in three formats, including XML DDI, SPSS files,MS Excel, and CSV.
Canadian Research Data Centres (RDCs)
The Research Data Centres (RDC) Program is part of an initiative by
Statistics Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC) and university consortia to help strengthen Canada's social
research capacity and to support the policy research community. The
program is supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and
the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). RDCs provide
researchers with access, in a secure university setting, to microdata
from population and household surveys.
Census Bureau's DataFerrett
DataFerrett is the browser for the DataWeb, an organization of databases located across the Web. DataFerrett supports metadata searches across surveys, on-the-fly variable recoding, complex tabulations, and graphics. DataFerrett is working to promote interoperability with the DDI format.
Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) Denominator File Project
The purpose of this project, which is being conducted by the Research Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota, is to compile, organize, and structure the documentation for the Medicare beneficiary demographic and enrollment data so the documentation is suitable for research and statistical use. To accomplish this goal, the project is employing the DDI.
CESSDA Data Portal
The CESSDA Portal provides access to a portal of European quantitative social
science datasets using an easy-to-use Web interface. It harvests statistical
datasets and variables published on the Web from the
European social science data archives and organizes them using a set of
multilingual thesauri and taxonomies.
Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA)
CPANDA, an interactive digital archive of data on the arts and cultural policy in the U.S., uses the DDI extensively on their site.
DAIS Nesstar System at Health Canada
This is a project, undertaken in partnership with Nesstar, to develop a Web-based data analysis system for use by Health Canada. DDI markup undelies the system.
The Data Liberation Initiative Metadata Collection:
English |
French
The Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) is an excellent example of a cost effective method for improving data resources for Canadian post secondary institutions. With this program, participating institutions pay an annual subscription fee that allows their faculty and students unlimited access to numerous Statistics Canada public use microdata files, databases and geographic files. Use of these files is limited to academic research and teaching purposes.
The Dataverse Network
Via web application software, data citation standards , and statistical methods, the Dataverse Network project increases scholarly recognition and distributed control for authors, journals, archives, teachers, and others who produce or organize data; facilitates data access and analysis for researchers and students; and ensures long-term preservation whether or not the data are in the public domain.
DevInfo
DevInfo offers easy access to
information on human development. Developed by the
UN, DevInfo enables national
statistics offices, UN agencies, donors, NGOs, and civil society to
prepare reports and presentations using this common database
platform. The system has been endorsed by the UN Development Group and
is being used in many countries to help track the Millennium
Development Goals and other national priorities. The system organizes data by indicators, time
periods and geographic areas with extensive metadata based on
international standards. Version 5.0, includes significant advancements in
handling metadata and conforms to standardized information sharing
models for metadata storage and dissemination. These metadata
standards help achieve efficiency by facilitating data exchange and
harmonizing international and national data sets.
DevInfo 5.0 is compliant with three international metadata standards
for indicators, data sources, and digital maps: SDMX, DDI, and ISO 19115:2003.
Documenting the Survey Life Cycle Using DDI
A pilot study was initiated during summer 2004 involving three Research Data Centres (Alberta, the
Prairies, and McMaster) along with the Statistics Canada RDC and General Social Survey (GSS)
Programs. This project consists of creating DDI documentation for the confidential data of GSS
Cycle 17, assessing the information sources needed to complete this task, and evaluating the use
of DDI documentation by researchers in an RDC. Overall, this project is trying to capture the
information created during the life cycle of a GSS survey and to assess how much of this
information can be recorded within DDI. The GSS uses a mix of systems during the production of a
survey and part of the work is to identify this information (and its sources) and to map it into
DDI elements. The research and analysis are based on data from Statistics Canada and the opinions
expressed do not represent the views of Statistics Canada.
Gallup Europe
Gallup serves the European Union by providing public opinion tracking in
the candidate region. Authorized users can access and download the full
data files of all publicly available Candidate Countries Eurobarometer
surveys Gallup has carried out in the past four years through the
Nesstar interface.
ICPSR Data Catalog
ICPSR has marked up all of
the
metadata records in its
catalog of holdings according to the DDI specification, specifically
making use of the document, study, and file description components
(<docDscr>, <stdyDscr>, and <fileDscr>).
ICPSR Social Science
Variables Database (SSVD)
The Social Science Variables Database, created with funding from
the National Science Foundation as part of ICPSR's Infrastructure in
the Social Sciences award (SES-9977984), is a project to demonstrate
the effectiveness of searching across studies at the variable level to
locate data of interest. Essentially, the SSVD lets you search for
variables, compare variables across studies, and view the question
text for select variables.
Institute for the Study of Labor -- IZA
The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, is a
private, independent research institute focusing on the economic
analysis of national and international labor markets. The institute
conducts extensive research in all relevant areas of labor economics and
advises policymakers on current labor market issues. Financed by
Deutsche Post World Net, IZA cooperates closely with the University of
Bonn and other academic institutions.
Israel Social Sciences Data Center (ISDC)
The ISDC Data Catalog contains information on over 600 datasets covering an extensive range of key economic and social quantitative data, spanning several disciplines and themes. The bulk of the datasets described in this catalog is in micro-level. Each dataset within the collection is described by bibliographic details, methodological information, abstract, geographical coverage and temporal coverage. Links to associated metadata include references to publications, subject keywords, extended metadata sources and links to related datasets, clustered in "Data Series".
The content of this catalog is structured in DDI format - an international standard for technical documentation describing social science data. The search engine is based on NESSTAR - a European software serving as an infrastructure for publishing and sharing data on the web.
MIDUS II -- Midlife in the United States: A National Study of Health and Well-Being (ICPSR Mirror)
Sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and produced by the
University of Wisconsin Survey Center, MIDUS II was undertaken to
investigate the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors in
understanding age-related differences in physical and mental health. The
study, conducted in 2004-2006, was a follow-up to MIDUS I, which was
sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. For MIDUS II the University of
Wisconsin created interactive DDI-compliant documentation that can be
used to investigate specific variables and navigate through the
instrument.
National Historical Geographic Information System
This project, based at the University of Minnesota, involves harmonizing all extant electronic census summary data and converting documentation to the DDI format.
National Survey of Family Growth
ICPSR is participating in a collaborative project with other units
of the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research to
conduct several waves of the National Survey of Family Growth, sponsored by
the National Center for Health Statistics. ICPSR has prepared
Web-based interactive documentation for the Wave 6 survey in DDI-compliant
form.
Nesstar
Nesstar provides a "seamless interface" between the user and the data and its documentation, through integrated data discovery, usage, and dissemination tools. The DDI is central to the ability of Nesstar to deliver these services.
Questionnaire Development Documentation System
The goal of this project, developed by the Center for Quantitative Methods and Survey Research at the University of Konstanz in Germany, is to create a system that allows permanent electronic documentation of
questionnaire development and the final state of the instrument. The program will be suitable for paper&pencil, face-to-face and CATI instruments.
Social Science Research Services (SSRS) and Social Science Libraries & Information Services (SSLIS) at Yale University
By making its catalog records DDI-compliant, Social Science Research Services at Yale University uses the DDI to inform the structure of StatCat, the Social Science Statistical Data Finder. They have also used the DDI to describe files in the Economic Growth Center Library Collection as part of a Mellon grant.
Statistics New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand is in the process of building a Data Archive for Official Statistics which will use the DDI to store metadata for statistical collections.
Survey Documentation and Analysis
SDA is a set of programs, developed and maintained by the Computer-assisted Survey Methods Program (CSM) at the University of California, Berkeley, for the documentation and Web-based analysis of survey data. SDA imports and exports DDI-compliant documentation.
Vision of Britain
The Vision of Britain Web site, a component of the
Great Britain Historical Geographic Information System (www.gbhgis.org), provides a historical
view of Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A direct interface to the DDI-based structures is available.
An example of a particularly complex nCube, i.e. statistics from the Registrar General's Decennial Supplement for 1861-70, is available.
This nCube has three dimensions: sex (two categories), age group (12 categories) and
cause of death (25 categories):
The Great Britain Historical GIS Project is a unique digital collection of information about
Britain's localities as they have changed over time. Information comes from census reports,
historical gazetteers, travellers' tales and historic maps.
World Bank -- International Household Survey Network (IHSN) and Microdata Management Toolkit
The World Bank and other international partners provide considerable support to statistical
data collection in developing countries (mostly through household surveys and censuses). In September 2004, the World Bank created the International Household Survey Network (IHSN)
(with various UN agencies, regional development banks, bilaterals, and other partners).
To ensure quality in documentation and data, the World Bank is creating a DDI-based "Survey Data Dissemination Toolkit". The Toolkit is a combination of an upgraded and custom-branded version of the Nesstar Publisher with an additional (open-source) application that will generate interactive CD-ROMs or Web sites. The World Bank will redistribute the Toolkit to all 81 IDA developing countries and to the IHSN members. Key survey sponsors (UNICEF, ILO, and others), and statistics offices in various countries are ready to adopt it as a standard. The intention is that the Toolkit will dramatically improve the preservation, documentation, and dissemination of microdata in/by developing countries. The DDI would therefore become a de facto metadata standard in all these countries.
