Concordance Information

Concepts Definition File

To apply a concept definition file, navigate to a Concept Set and use the Apply Concept Input Sheet command.

In the concept definition file, each line represents a concept to be created. To specify a hierarchy, separate levels with colons.

A sample concept definition file looks like this:

Topic
Demographics
Demographics:Person
Demographics:Location
Family
Family:Partner
Family:Children
Work
Work:Job
Work:Commute

Variable Concordance Definition Files

Concordance definition files allow you to describe how variables within a Series measure similar things. See Data Concordance for a description of the metadata structure used.

The concordance definition file allows the following columns:

• Name: a name for the ConceptualVariable to be created.

• Label: a label for the ConceptualVariable to be created.

• Description: a description for the ConceptualVariable to be created.

• Topic: the topical group to which the ConceptualVariable should be assigned.

All other columns are used to locate datasets. The column name should match the name of a data file.

To apply a concordance definition file, navigate to a Series and use the Apply Concordance Input Sheet command. The command performs the following:

• For each row of the concordance definition file

  • A ConceptualVariable is located or created

  • The ConceptualVariable is assigned to a topical group based on the Topic column

  • For each dataset locator column, a variable with the specified name is located within that file

  • That variable is declared comparable with the row’s ConceptualVariable by creating a relationship to an appropriate RepresentedVariable, which in turn has a relationship to the ConceptualVariable.

A sample concordance definition file looks like this:

Name	Label	Topic	wave1	wave2	wave3	wave4	custom:Comparability
age	The age of the respondent	Demographics:Person	age	age	age	age	Here are some notes about how the data compare across waves.
sex	Sex of the respondent	Demographics:Person	sex	sex	sex	sex
country	Country in which the respondent lives	Demographics:Location	country	country	country	country

Custom Fields in Concordance Definition Files

Custom fields can also be applied to variables using a concordance definition file. To apply information in custom fields on a conceptual variable, add extra columns that begin with custom:. For example, to add a field named Comparability, add a column named custom:Comparability.

Cross Study Concordance Definition Files

Conceptual Variable concordance definition files allow you to describe how different Conceptual Variables, possibly from different Series, measure similar things. This is useful when performing cross-study concordance for two or more studies that have independently performed concordance on their own variables. In this case, conceptual variables can be declared equivalent, instead of all individual variables. Colectica uses Conceptual Variable Groups to associate Conceptual Variables with each other.

Each row of a cross study concordance file represents a conceptual variable harmonization group. The cross study concordance file should have the following columns.

Topic

The topical group to which the ConceptualVariable should be assigned. Hierarchical levels may be separated with a colon.

Name

The name of the conceptual variable harmonization group to be created.

Label

The label of the conceptual variable harmonization group to be created.

Description

A description for the conceptual variable harmonization group to be created.

Other Columns

Column names that do not match the above column names are treated as locators for conceptual variable harmonization groups. The tool will search for conceptual variable groups that match the column’s name or label. Within these columns, conceptual variables will be matched from the conceptual variable group specified by the column, and will be assigned to the harmonization group represented by the row.

Multiplicity

For many-to-one mappings, the name of the conceptual variable group to which the row corresponds.

All other columns are used to locate studies and metadata packages. The column name should match the title of the study.

A sample conceptual variable concordance definition file looks like this:

Name	Label	Topic	Study1	Study2	Multiplicity	custom:Comparability
sex	Sex of the respondent	Demographics:Person	sex	sex	sex
country	Country in which the respondent lives	Demographics:Location	country	country	country
age	The age of the respondent	Demographics:Person	respage			Here are some notes about how the data compare across waves.
birthyr	The year the respondent was born	Demographics:Person		birthyr	age	Here are some notes about how the data compare across waves.
birthmo	The month the respondent was born	Demographics:Person		birthmo	age	Here are some notes about how the data compare across waves.

Custom Fields in Concordance Definition Files

Custom fields can also be applied to the conceptual variable groups using a concordance definition file. To apply information in custom fields on a conceptual variable group, add extra columns that begin with custom: For example, to add a field named Comparability, add a column named custom:Comparability.