Published: 2020-04-15
XML Schema (entry point): https://ddialliance.org/Specification/DDI-Lifecycle/3.3/XMLSchema/instance.xsd
Content
Description
DDI-Lifecycle is designed to document and manage data across the entire life cycle, from conceptualization to data publication, analysis and beyond. It encompasses all of the DDI-Codebook specification and extends it. Based on XML Schemas, DDI-Lifecycle is modular and extensible. This version also supports improvements in Classification management (based on GSIM / Neuchatel), non-survey data collection (Measurements), sampling, weighting, questionnaire Design and support for DDI as a Property Graph.
Applications
- Descriptive documentation of the content, meaning, provenance, and access for a single data set
- Archival preservation of descriptive content
- In-put basis for more complex descriptions
- In-put content for discovery and exchange of data at the study, data file, variable, and question level
- In-put content for a structured human-readable codebook for the data set as a whole
- Populate variable and question banks to explore available data and question structures for reuse in new surveys
Informational Documents
- Linked Field-Level documentation
- Technical Guide
- Model Documentation
- Implementation Guide: Best Practices for Usage of DDI 3.2 and Future Versions
- Change Document
- Change Summary
Markup Examples
A listing of available examples of DDI-Lifecycle Version 3.3 instances
License
DDI-Lifecycle 3.3 XML Schema is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Other DDI documents are similarly distributed under the same Creative Commons license.
The development of DDI 3.3 draws on earlier DDI versions and work of the committees and individuals who developed them as well as the collective ideas, needs, and work of the Expert Committee of the DDI Alliance. Major contributions to DDI-Lifecycle 3.3 were made by many individuals and organizations.
Development Work
Version specific changes
DDI-Lifecycle 3.3 was published on April 15, 2020. This version of the DDI Lifecycle specification builds on DDI Lifecycle 3.2, correcting documented bugs, refining some aspects of the specification and adding new functionality to support
- Classification management (based on GSIM / Neuchatel)
- Non-survey data collection (Measurements)
- Sampling
- Weighting
- Questionnaire Design
- Support for DDI as a Property Graph (properties on terms and references)
- Quality Statement improvements (useful for Eurostat reporting)
A change document in the download package identifies all changes, including which changes were backward compatible and the steps to take to move DDI 3.2 instances to DDI 3.3. A summary of this is also provided.
Future Work
Development of DDI Lifecycle is managed by the DDI Alliance Technical Committee (TC). The work of the TC can be found at Technical Committee - DDI - Confluence (atlassian.net). Issues related to the development of DDI Lifecycle are managed at DDI: Lifecycle - Issues - JIRA (atlassian.net)