[DDI-SRG] response unit in Variable

[Wendy Thomas]

Sanda,

Right now I think there should be a decision on ResponseUnit as its 
currently designed. Also write up the reasoning and situations where what 
you are suggesting would be more appropriate. It would certainly be 
considered by TIC for the next round of bug reviews (after IASSIST).

Wendy


On Thu, 26 Mar 2009, Sanda Ionescu wrote:

> Hi, Wendy,
>
> This is on behalf of the Controlled Vocabularies group, and I will
> forward them your response.
>
> We were looking at a possible CV for Variable:ResponseUnit, and realized
> that the element as such - ResponseUnit - only applies to survey-type
> data (where there is a "response") while variables may also be created
> from other sources: databooks, registries, journal articles, you name
> it.
>
> Now, there is a DataSource element in DataCollection but at that level
> it applies to the entire dataset, while in fact we may have both survey
> and non-survey variables in the same dataset.
>
> So we thought that if we replaced the element Variable:ResponseUnit with
> Variable:DataSource the latter would cover for any type of source, human
> and non-human, survey and non-survey, etc.
>
> Moreover, we might use the DataCollection:DataSource as a default for
> the dataset, and mark up only differences at variable level.
>
> What is your take on this, and would the TIC consider making such a
> change?
> Thanks
>
> Sanda.
>
>
>
> Sanda Ionescu
> ICPSR
> University of Michigan
> P.O. Box 1248
> Ann Arbor, MI 48106
>
> Phone, Fax: 734-615-7890
>
>

Wendy L. Thomas                          Phone: +1 612.624.4389
Data Access Core Director		 Fax:   +1 612.626.8375
Minnesota Population Center              Email: wlt at pop.umn.edu
University of Minnesota
50 Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455