Converting MS Word based Questionnaires to DDI: A demonstration application for uses of metadata throughout the data lifecycle

This tool demonstrates how a structured questionnaire design can be leveraged to harvest metadata, which can then be used to drive tasks downstream in the data lifecycle with greater ease. The application takes in a questionnaire designed in Microsoft Office Word 2007 (.docx format) document and uses LINQ to extract different meta components that make up the questionnaire. The extracted components are then translated into a XAML document that describes the data entry screen and a corresponding DDI document that describes the questionnaire. These two documents are then used to drive the data entry process and preform basic validations like restricting entered values to the codes in a coding scheme, basic data typing, data length and skips. Once the data is entered, the DDI is again leveraged to configure the export process that allows for selecting which variables to export and filtering by error status. The export process also uses the DDI to construct setup files for STATA and produce customized user documentation. Overall, this application demonstrate that creating DDI documentation does not have to be a painstaking, time consuming process done by hand and the advantages of documenting early in the data lifecycle, so that it can be used to drive onward data management activities consistently and efficiently.