[DDI-ADG] FW: Survey Research tools

Wed Nov 9 14:50:03 EST 2005

________________________________

From: John Spencer [mailto:spence2 at email.unc.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 2:08 PM
To: Mary Vardigan
Subject: Re: Survey Research tools

Mary,
For the most part, I think the information would be stored in a text
field. The one exception that I can think of is the spatial primitive
descriptions. Those will be either point, line or polygons.

John

Mary Vardigan wrote: 

John,

The DDI Working Group on geography has been discussing your document and
was wondering if you have requirements for "machine-actionability" and
typing on any of your information elements. It is of course easy to set
that up for dates, but less clear for some of the other elements. Could
you live with much of this just being included as text (for example,
field collection description/limitations seems as if it would almost
always be a text field). Or would you want controlled vocabularies for
some elements like field collection protocols? If the latter, are there
standard sources that we could link to for the vocabularies? 

Any other thoughts you may have on this are welcomed. We found your
document very useful.

Regards,

Mary

________________________________

From: John Spencer [mailto:spence2 at email.unc.edu] 
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 2:22 PM
To: Mary Vardigan
Cc: john_spencer at unc.edu; Gina-Qian Cheung; Sue Ellen Hansen;
edv at unc.edu; phil_bardsley at unc.edu; Beth-Ellen Pennell
Subject: Re: Survey Research tools

Mary and others,
Here is the document I wrote with Phil Page (the director of the Spatial
Analysis Unit here at CPC) that outlines some scenarios where spatial
data was part of a survey and key things we'd need to know to use the
data effectively. What we tried to do was present the things that we'd
want to know if we were presented with spatial data from the scenarios.
Each scenario reflects examples we have encountered here at the Spatial
Analysis Unit. Our assumption was that the spatial component
corresponded to one (or more) records in the database. I should point
out, that this assumption is by no means the only way spatial data could
be associate with a survey. There could be contextual information that's
integrated with the survey that comes from spatial databases, e.g.
Census, Land Cover, Elevation, etc that is at the survey level and not
at the respondent level. 

Anyway, hope this helps clarify some issues. I think the addition of
spatial data capabilities would represent a valuable advancement for
DDI. If you have any questions or would like more information, or if
there's additional help I can provide, just let me know. 

John

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Spencer
Senior Spatial Analyst
Carolina Population Center
University of North Carolina
123 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516 USA
919.966.1721

Mary Vardigan wrote: 

John,

Thank you so much for your reply about spatial data and the DDI. We are
in the midst of compiling requirements for Version 3.0 of the DDI, and
we are very much interested in treating geographic and spatial data in a
more robust way in the new version. It would be great if you could send
me a copy of your document on spatial data and survey research, even if
it isn't intended to be a set of proposed tags. As you mention, just
knowing the right questions to think about is important. Thank you so
much for offering your expertise in this area.

Regards,

Mary

________________________________

From: Beth-Ellen Pennell 
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 5:49 PM
To: spence2 at email.unc.edu; Phil Bardsley
Cc: Gina-Qian Cheung; Sue Ellen Hansen; Ed Van Duinen; John Spencer;
Mary Vardigan
Subject: RE: Survey Research tools

John -- thank-you for this.  I have cc:d Mary Vardigan who heads the DDI
effort.  

Best,

Beth-Ellen

________________________________

From: John Spencer [mailto:spence2 at email.unc.edu]
Sent: Thu 11/3/2005 3:38 PM
To: Phil Bardsley
Cc: Beth-Ellen Pennell; Gina-Qian Cheung; Sue Ellen Hansen; Ed Van
Duinen; John Spencer
Subject: Re: Survey Research tools

Greetings all,
I wanted to follow-up on our discussion on the inclusion of spatial data
in DDI, and send, as requested, a brief paragraph about the unique needs
of spatial data. As we mentioned on the phone, there's a lot of
information about spatial data that's vital to know before it can be
used most effectively. That's true for all types of spatial data,
whether it's a latitude and longitude coordinate collected using a GPS
receiver or contextual information obtained from census or other source.
For instance, knowing the coordinate system and datum of the coordinate
is essential. In addition, other information such as error correction
method employed for GPS coordinates or the offset employed by the
geocoding service are key pieces of information that permit the spatial
data to be used accurately. These are just a couple of examples, but
there are others. In fact, enough examples that we think incorporating
tags in DDI v.3 that accommodate the unique needs of spatial data would
be a tremendous advancement in the functionality of DDI.

If you'd like more information or details just let us know. We have
developed a document which outlines some of the scenarios of how spatial
data can be included in survey research and what information about
spatial data is important to know about each scenario.Its not a set of
proposed tags, but it should illustrate some of the questions that we
ask and would like to know when we use spatial data. If it would be
helpful we can provide it.

John

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Spencer
Senior Spatial Analyst
Carolina Population Center
University of North Carolina
123 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516 USA
919.966.1721

Phil Bardsley wrote: 

Hi Beth-Ellen et al., 

It was great talking with you, too. The more people we talk with about
this idea, the more people we find who are working on the same sort of
tools. We will certainly plan to attend IASSIST. Meanwhile, we'd like to
contact the NCHS folks and learn more about their product. If you can
recommend someone to talk with there, we'd appreciate it. 

I'll forward your proposal for DDI v. 3 to Phil Schumm at the University
of Chicago, whom I mentioned in our conversation. His group may have
some useful ideas to contribute. 

Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us. 

Phil 

Beth-Ellen Pennell wrote: 

Dear Phil: 

It was great talking to you all this week about your project.  I have 
talked with Mary Vardigan who directs the overall DDI project for ICPSR.

I have also cc:'d her on this message. Mary said that the plan is to 
have version 3 of the DDI ready for public comment at the end of May 
when the IASSIST conference is held in Ann Arbor (which we encourage you

to attend -- excellent way to meet folks working in this area).  The 
public comment period will be for about two months.  Plans to 
advertise/promote are still in preliminary stages.  Ideas are welcome. 
Mary is happy to discuss this further or answer any questions you might 
have. 

Good luck with your project and please keep in touch. 

Best Regards, 

Beth-Ellen 

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Spencer
Senior Spatial Analyst
Carolina Population Center
University of North Carolina
123 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516 USA
919.966.1721
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