Data and Metadata Harmonization for the RAND Survey Meta Data Repository

Abstract

The RAND Survey Meta Data Repository aims to help researchers use data and metadata from the HRS-family of surveys on aging, including studies from the US, UK/Europe and Asia. The project consists of 3 major parts: 1) Importing the metadata for each wave of each survey (in various formats such as DDI, Excel, Word/PDF) and linking the various modules/items with a single hierarchy of concepts 2) Creating the RAND Harmonized datasets by combining data across different waves of different studies, to facilitate easier comparison across years and countries 3) The Repository website, which provides researchers a single point of access to browse/search the metadata across all of the different surveys Currently, only one of the studies provides metadata in DDI format to simplify the import process; for the other studies, custom scripts and a great deal of manual effort are required. This presentation will discuss how DDI could be used to improve the process of importing the metadata and creating the RAND Harmonized datasets, as well as benefits for the researchers that access the Repository.