HOW WE CURATE DATA

STANDARDS & TOOLS

OUR METADATA STANDARDS / QUDEX

OVERVIEWDDI CODEBOOK 2.5QUDEXTEISDMXCONTROLLED VOCABULARIESPERSISTENT IDENTIFIERSPRESERVATION

The Qualitative Data Exchange Schema (QuDEx) enables discovery, locating, retrieving and citing complex qualitative data collections in context.

The schema is complementary to DDI and enables:

  • highly structured and consistently marked-up data
  • rich descriptive metadata for files e.g. interview characteristics, interview setting, type of object
  • logical links between data objects: text to related audio, images, and other research outputs
  • preserves references to annotations performed on data
  • common metadata elements that enable federated catalogues across providers and borders

The standard is maintained by the UK Data Archive, University of Essex and the project overview and outputs can be accessed from the DExT site. The UK Data service QualiBank uses the schema, along wth TEI and DDI 2.5.

In late 2007, version 2.0 of the QuDEx draft schema was made available for testing. Some critical amendments have been made for Version 3.0, following on from feedback and XML consultants from the Open Data Fundation.

The Version 3.01 draft schema, accompanying documentation and XML instance files are all available.

Documentation

Release notes Release notes for the Schema version 3.0

Open issues A collection of the open QuDEx issues

Reference A reference guide to QuDEx elements and attributes which we hope may be expanded to provide further implementation support in future versions. A list of relevant acronyms is provided at the end of this document providing basic definitions (not technical details) of QuDEx and other related concepts

QuDEx mapping from Atlas-ti to QuDEx XML

Schema and XML instances

Schema The latest version of the QuDEx Schema v3.01

QuDEx Object Model The latest version of the QuDEx Object Model v3.0d

Full instance A full example instance of the XML containing most elements and attributes

Sample instance An Atlas-ti XML example based on the sample data prepared for the DExT project

Sample METS Supporting document for archiving of QuDEx and other material

QuDEx Viewer

QuDEx Viewer A very basic demo for viewing QuDEx files. A Tomcat server needs to be installed to run the Viewer

OUR SERVICES  

RELU-DSS 
supporting rural research data management
UK Data Service 
data promoting evidence-based research

DATA LIFECYCLE  

CREATING DATA: designing, planning consent, collection and management, capturing and creating metadata
PROCESSING DATA:  entering, transcribing, checking & validating, anonymising and describing
ANALYSING DATA: interpreting, deriving, producing outputs & publishing, preparing for sharing
PRESERVING DATA: migrating, backing-up, storing, creating metadata and documentation, archiving
ACCESS TO DATA: distributing, sharing, controlling access, promoting
RE-USING DATA: for follow-ups, new research, research reviews, scrutinising, teaching & learning