Questionnaire Management and DDI: The QDDS Case

Abstract

This paper is part of a series that focuses on DDI usage and how the metadata specification should be applied in a variety of settings by a variety of organizations and individuals. Support for this working paper series was provided by the authors' home institutions; by GESISLeibniz Institute for the Social Sciences; by Schloss Dagstuhl -Leibniz Center for Informatics; and by the DDI Alliance. ABSTRACTA questionnaire is usually revised several times during construction, and documenting those revisions in detail is important for understanding the lineage of the questions asked and for further questionnaire development in future studies. This documentation is also indispensable for teaching survey research methods.Nonetheless, this documentation is usually done only partially or not at all, due to a lack of useful documentation tools. The aim of the Questionnaire Development Documentation project was the development of a system to permit permanent electronic documentation of questionnaire development and the final state of the instrument.QDDS is a useful and effective system but may be improved by moving to DDI 3 to take advantage of enhanced functionality, especially in terms of versioning. DDI 3 also has the potential to provide the framework for a question bank.

Implementing DDI 3: The German Microcensus Case Study

“…QDDS is a collaborative project run by the University of Duisburg-Essen and GESIS 6 . QDDS itself is a proven editor based on the DDI standard, has already been used to document many surveys, and is still being enhanced continuously (Hopt, Amin, et al, 2010).…”