Improving metadata infrastructure for complex surveys: 
Insights from the Fragile Families Challenge

Alexander Kindel, Vineet Bansal, Kristin Catena, Thomas Hartshorne and Kate Jaeger
Additional contact information
Alexander Kindel: Princeton University
Vineet Bansal: Princeton University
Kristin Catena: Princeton University
Thomas Hartshorne: Princeton University
Kate Jaeger: Princeton University

Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

Abstract: Researchers rely on metadata systems to prepare data for analysis. As the complexity of datasets increases and the breadth of data analysis practices grow, existing metadata systems can limit the efficiency and quality of data preparation. This article describes the redesign of a metadata system supporting the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study based on the experiences of participants in the Fragile Families Challenge. We demonstrate how treating metadata as data—that is, releasing comprehensive information about variables in a format amenable to both automated and manual processing—can make the task of data preparation less arduous and less error-prone for all types of data analysis. We hope that our work will facilitate new applications of machine learning methods to longitudinal surveys and inspire research on data preparation in the social sciences. We have open-sourced the tools we created so that others can use and improve them.

Keywords: metadata; survey research; data sharing; quantitative methodology; computational social science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big and nep-cmp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/wp18-10-ff.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:crcwel:wp18-10-ff

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bobray Bordelon ().