Metadata Structure for the Explore Page¶

The Explore page in Colectica Portal allows users to navigate information quickly. Users can explore by a number of different Explore Views. Explore Views are automatically configured based on the metadata in the repository. This document describes the metadata structures used to automatically configure Explore Views.

Explore Index¶

The explore index page at http://{hostname}/explore provides a link to each Explore View.

Explore View Types¶

Topics: This view allows users to navigate by topic, and view concordance tables, variable lists, or question lists for each topic.
Browse Series or Studies: Coming in version 7.5.
Browse a Single Series or Study: Coming in version 7.5.

Automatic Configuration of Explore Views¶

Search for all ConceptSchemes
If there is a Series that references the ConceptScheme
- Create a Topics view
- The Series acts as the column-defining-item for concordance tables. Hierarchical column headers are created based on the StudyUnits, ResourcePackages, PhysicalInstances, and VariableGroups beneath the Series.

Concordance Tables¶

Concordance tables show the relationships among variables across time and across studies. When a user chooses a topic/concept, a concordance table is created in the main content area according to the following rules.

Rows¶

If a ConceptualVariableGroup references the chosen Concept, a row is created for each ConceptualVariable in that group
If not, then a row is created for all ConceptualVariables that reference the Concept.

Note

ConceptualVariableGroups should be preferred, since they allow you to specify a meaningful order of the items.

Columns¶

The first column of the concordance table shows the ConceptualVariable for the row. See above for a description of how rows are created.

The remaining columns and cell contents are created as follows. For each row:

Starting with the column-defining-item (usually a Series), walk down the metadata graph to find all StudyUnits or ResourcePackages, PhysicalInstances, and VariableGroups.
Create a level of potential column headers for each of those. The lowest level item - a PhysicalInstance of VariableGroup -
For each row, and each column, find all Variables that reference the ConceptualVariable in the row, and that are referenced by the PhysicalInstance or VariableGroup in the column.
In each cell, create a link for the Variable that corresponds to the row’s ConceptualVariable and the column’s PhysicalInstance or VariableGroup.
If any columns do not contain any variables, they are not displayed.

Metadata Structures for Concordance¶

Organizing by data file with one file per round¶

Colectica uses the following metadata structure to display the Explore page.

Series (Group, in DDI terms)
- Metadata Package (1..1)
  
  Concept Set (1..1)
  
  Concept (0..n)
- Conceptual Variable Set (1..1)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (1..1) (container group)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (0..n)
- Study (0..n)
  
  PhysicalInstance (0..n) (PhysicalInstance, in DDI terms)
  
  Data Relationship (1..1)
  
  Variable (0..n)

Series: The Series is used to organize a collection of Studies that are related in some way. This could be a series of surveys or a collection of datasets that are related in some way.
Metadata Package: The metadata package is the container for much of the metadata used to define concordance.
Concept Set and Concepts: The concept set is used to define the navigation that is displayed on the left side of the Explore view.
Conceptual Variable Set and container Conceptual Variable Group: There must be a single Conceptual Variable Group within the Conceptual Variable Set. This group acts as a container for the next levels of group. The group structure inside the container should mirror the Concept Set described above. The Conceptual Variable Groups under the container Conceptual Variable Group must reference DefiningConcept`s that exist within the `Concept Set.
Study: Studies under the Series are used to organize a repeated project into rounds or waves. Each Study can have one or more data files within it.
PhysicalInstance and DataRelationship: The PhysicalInstance and DataRelationship describe a data file.
Variable: Variables should use the metadata structure for variables, described above.

The concordance tables are created with the following logic:

One table is built per Conceptual Variable Group
Each Conceptual Variable in the group gets a row
All variables that reference the Conceptual Variable, or that reference a Represented Variable that references the Conceptual Variable, are gathered
For each gathered Variable: - All Physical Instance`s that reference the `Variable are gathered
One column is created for each distinct gathered PhysicalInstance
The content of each Conceptual Variable-to-Physical Instance cell are filled with links to Variables that that reference the Conceptual Variable, and that are referenced by the PhysicalInstance.

Organizing with a single data file for all rounds¶

When all rounds are stored in a single data file, Colectica uses this metadata structure to display the Explore page.

Series (Group, in DDI terms)
- Metadata Package (1..1)
  
  Concept Set (1..1)
  
  Concept (0..n)
- Conceptual Variable Set (1..1)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (1..1) (container group)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (0..n)
PhysicalInstance (1..1)
- Data Relationship (1..1)
  
  Variable (0..n)
- VariableGroup (1..n) with Group Type set to “TimePeriod”
  
  VariableGroup (1..n)
  
  Variable (0..n)

Series: The Series is used to organize a collection of Studies that are related in some way. This could be a series of surveys or a collection of datasets that are related in some way.
Metadata Package: The metadata package is the container for much of the metadata used to define concordance.
Concept Set and Concepts: The concept set is used to define the navigation that is displayed on the left side of the Explore view.
Conceptual Variable Set and container Conceptual Variable Group: There must be a single Conceptual Variable Group within the Conceptual Variable Set. This group acts as a container for the next levels of group. The group structure inside the container should mirror the Concept Set described above. The Conceptual Variable Groups under the container Conceptual Variable Group must reference DefiningConcept`s that exist within the `Concept Set.
PhysicalInstance and DataRelationship: The PhysicalInstance and DataRelationship describe a data file.
Variable: Variables should use the metadata structure for variables, described above.
VariableGroup: Variables can be organized into groups. These groups can be used to organize variables collected in the same round of a survey. The Group Type should be set to “TimePeriod” to indicate that the variables in the group are collected in the same round. We recommend a single top-level VariableGroup with the Group Type set to “TimePeriod”. Under this group, create a VariableGroup for each time period. Within those groups, add the variables that correspond to that time period. This approach allows for separate top-level groups for different purposes, for example, one for time periods and one for topics. It is also possible to create multiple top level VariableGroup`s with the `Group Type set to “TimePeriod”.

The concordance tables are created with the following logic:

One table is built per Conceptual Variable Group
Each Conceptual Variable in the group gets a row
All variables that reference the Conceptual Variable, or that reference a Represented Variable that references the Conceptual Variable, are gathered
One column is created for each distinct VariableGroup
The content of each Conceptual Variable-to-VariableGroup cell are filled with links to Variables that that reference the Conceptual Variable, and that are included in the VariableGroup.

Organizing by variable sets¶

In addition to supporting concordance tables as described above, concordance tables can also be built based on an additional metadata structure. This allows concordance tables to be built based on VariableGroups, instead of requiring PhysicalInstances to exist. The concorded items can be stored in VariableGroups in ResourcePackages that exist either under a Group or a StudyUnit.

Series or Study
- Metadata Package (1..1)
  
  Concept Set (1..1)
  
  Concept (0..n)
  
  Conceptual Variable Set (1..1)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (container group) (1..1)
  
  Conceptual Variable Group (0..n)
  
  Variable Set
  
  Variable Group (0..n)
  
  Variable (0..n)
- Study (0..n)
  
  Metadata Package (0..n)
  
  Variable Scheme
  
  Variable Group (0..n)
  
  Variable (0..n)

The following logic will be used to build these concordance tables.

One table is built per ConceptualVariableGroup
Each ConceptualVariable in the group gets a row
All Variables that reference the ConceptualVariable are gathered
For each gathered Variable: - All VariableGroups and VariableSchemes that reference the Variable are gathered
One column is created for each distinct gathered VariableGroup/Scheme
The content of each ConceptualVariable(row)-to-VariableGroup cell is filled with links to Variable that reference the ConceptualVariable, and that are contained in the VariableGroup

Note

Statistical comparisons are only available when using the PhysicalInstance approach.