Title: Documenting data
Course: UGQuants (SSPS) > Section: Beyond data collection and analysis

Documenting data

If our data is going to be reused, then we need other users to be able to understand and interpret it. For this to happen, a clear and detailed description of our data must be documented. Good data documentation will provide the relevant background to the data collection and details of the research project including the research purposes, aims and objectives, and research questions. Information about the method of data collection should be provided including issues such as sampling and the process of data collection. The data documentation should also include details about the structure of the data files and the relationship between data files. Any changes made to the data since their creation should also be noted and different versions of the data files should be clearly identified. The procedures carried out as regards quality assurance should also be detailed including how the data was checked, proofed and cleaned. Finally, any necessary information about access or use of the data should be clearly explained.

In terms of the actual data, there are a range of details which should be documented including:

1 | The names, labels and descriptions for each variable, records and their values;
2 | Information of the coding scheme used including that used for missing values;
3 | Information about data derived after collection (e.g. subsequently computed variables) such as codes, algorithms or command files;
4 | Details of any weighting variables created;
5 | Definitions of  any technical or specialist terminology or acronyms used and details of annotations for cases, individuals or items.

The survey codebook would be part of this documentation.