ISSP DataWizard Computer-assisted Merging and

Archiving of Distributed International Comparative Data

Robert Strötgen, IZ, Bonn - Rolf Uher, ZA, Köln

presented at the IASSIST / IFDO Conference, Amsterdam, May 2001

Merging process

cou n try 1 se tu pcou n try 1 d a ta

cou n try 2 se tu pcou n try 2 d a ta

cou n try n se tu pcou n try n d a ta

S tan d ard S e tu pS P S S

# of data-sets to be merged per year

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98

Countries

Documents needed for processing

• ISSP basic questionnaire• standard setup• standard background variables• codebooks of earlier ISSP modules• freqencies of original data• original questionnaire• dictionaries• english documentation • re-coding documentation• freqencies of re-coded data• other sources: internet, statistical yearbooks, ISCO

etc.

# of recodes by country

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

recodes

ISSP DataWizard

• maps original with standard setup• comparative view• assiging variables and values to standard• re-codes data to standard• allows for individual data-processing• reports steps of processing

Further steps• prototype testing• ‚real‘ test with 2000 ISSP data• preparing DataWizard for external use

possible: introducing further elements ofartificial intelligence to check data-

quality and plausibility

ISSP DataWizard Part II: Software Presentation

Robert Strötgen, IZ, Bonn - Rolf Uher, ZA, Köln

presented at the IASSIST / IFDO Conference, Amsterdam, May 2001

Java Application• Java-Application

(JDK 1.2/1.3, Swing/JFC)• Developed using IBM Visual Age• Platform independent• Oracle DBMS (via JDBC)• DBMS independent• More information:

http://www.gesis.org/Forschung/Informationstechnologie/ISSPWizard.htm

Management of Modules

Management of Study Descriptions

Management of Setups

Mapping of Modules

Management of Rules

Simple Result Visualisation

Other Features

• Import/Export:SPSS or DDI XML files

• Complete mapping documentation and concordance reference

• Version for project partners and distributed work on modules in preparation