DDI Lifecycle (CLOSER Profile)

All our metadata is compatible with Data Documentation Initiative Lifecycle 3.2, where you can also view the full field level documentation  This standard supports all levels of metadata, both high-level which describes the study, survey and datasets and also lower-level which describes the data variables, instruments and questions. The use of DDI allows the comparison between questions and variables to be undertaken systematically and at any level of the metadata. 

The following pages detail the DDI profile CLOSER has or will adopt. It lists all the DDI fields in use and gives a description of how they are used. It also lists whether fields are repeatable or not and whether they are required or not. These do not always match the DDI Lifecycle standard overall. Fields considered optional in DDI Lifecycle are required in CLOSER, for example, to ensure a consistent experience for users. In no case, however, does the CLOSER profile break the rules of DDI Lifecycle. This is up to date for DDI Lifecycle 3.2.

The profile is designed to explain the content to users and allow them to map their content to DDI. . DDI terminology is used here.

Note you will see that Data Collection and Questionnaire are separate items. The Questionnaire refers to just the questionnaire itself. The Data Collection refers to the use of the questionnaire i.e. when it was used, who did the data collection, etc.

Note on repeatable items: repeatable in this use refers only to the individual item within its container. So you can have multiple Groups (Studies) within the overall CLOSER metadata set. Each would then contain separate items. Another example is the FundingInformation. Each funder can have only one name and grant number, but you can repeat FundingInformation to add multiple funders.

Note on references: Some of the items listed below are not directly input, but rather refer to a list of items. Examples include Organizations and Universes. This is a detail of DDI Lifecycle that you will need to understand to compile a set of metadata, but has been removed here to clarify the content.