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A
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Business | The set of executed processes and the actual resources required as inputs and produced as outputs to acquire data about a given Population for a particular reference period. It includes the process and resources required to acquire data in a Statistical Program consisting of gathering data via one or more Data Channels in order to create or feed one or more Data Resources. | This object holds Statistical Activity information that relates specifically to data collection or acquisition. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Activity type. |
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Business | The specification of the resources required and processes used and description of relevant methodological information for a set of activities to collect data about a given Population. | This object holds Statistical Program Design information that relates specifically to data collection or acquisition. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Program Design type. Related to Acquisition Design is Acquisition Activity, which holds the detailed information about the conduct of the Acquisition Activity for a single reference period, The Acquisition Design describes the methodology and design elements that are intended to apply across all Acquisition Activities until such time as a decision is made to alter the design. |
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Base | A placeholder for extensions to the GSIM model. | GSIM does not seek to replicate or embed constructs from the administration of objects held in metadata registries, but includes this placeholder to allow for future extensions. |
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Concepts | A Population used for the analysis, processing, or dissemination of statistical data. | Population determined by parameters of an analysis | object class, analytical population | |
Concepts | A Unit that is defined for the analysis, processing, or dissemination of statistical data. | Object corresponding to an Analysis Population | analytical unit, unit of analysis | |
Business | An activity to analyze quality or effectiveness and consider available options. | The Assessment is a generic class that regroups different types of more specific assessments. An example of Assessment is a SWOT assessment that identifies the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of a specified proposal. Another example is a Gap Analysis that formalizes the difference between the current situation and the state to reach due to certain requirements. An Assessment can use various objects as inputs, whether they are the main objects that the Assessment is about or auxiliary information objects that help the accomplishment of the assessment. |
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Structures | The role given to a Represented Variable in the context of a Data Structure. The role is to hold the pertinent information in addition to the identifiers and measures for a particular unit in a Data Set. | For example the publication status of an observation (e.g. provisional, final, revised), or information specific to the use of an Identifier in the context of a Data Set. |
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B
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Business | A proposal for a body of work that will deliver outputs designed to achieve outcomes. A Business Case will provide the reasoning for initiating a new Statistical Program Design for a Statistical Program, as well as the details of the change proposed. | A Business Case is produced as a result of a detailed consideration of a Change Definition. It sets out a plan for how the change described by the Change Definition can be achieved. A Business Case usually comprises various evaluations, for example a SWOT assessment, or Gap Analyses for the different solutions that are considered for satisfying the Statistical Need. The Business Case will also specify the stakeholders that are impacted by the Statistical Need or by the different solutions that are required to implement it. |
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Production | Something an enterprise does, or needs to do, in order to achieve its objectives. | A Business Function delivers added value from a business point of view. It is delivered by bringing together people, processes and technology (resources), for a specific business purpose. |
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Production | A defined interface for accessing business capabilities (an ability that an organization possesses, typically expressed in general and high level terms and requiring a combination of organization, people, processes and technology to achieve). | A Business Service may provide one means of accessing a particular Business Function. Requesting a particular service through the defined interface may result in a business process (workflow) being executed. |
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C
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A Concept whose role is to extensionally define and measure a characteristic. | Categories for the Concept of sex include: Male, Female | class | |
Concepts | An element of a Category Set. | A type of Node |
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Concepts | A list of Categories | A kind of Node Set for which the Categories have no assigned Designations. |
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Business | A structured, well-defined specification for a proposed change. | A related object - the Statistical Need - is a change expression as it has been received by an organization. A Statistical Need is a raw expression of a proposed change, and is not necessarily well-defined. A Change Definition is created when a Statistical Need is analyzed by an organization, and expresses the raw need in well-defined, structured terms. |
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Business | The description of the Data Channel made at run time. | This object is a specialization of a Data Channel and is used to describe the behaviour of a Data Channel at execution time. |
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Business | The description of the Data Channel made at design time. | This object is a specialization of a Data Channel, and is used to make the design of the characteristics of a Data Channel before using it. |
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Concepts | A set of related Classification Schemes. The Classification relates Classification Schemes which differ as versions or variants of each other. | For example, NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System) is a Classification, but NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007 are Classification Schemes, as they are different versions of NAICS. |
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Concepts | A set of Classifications that are related from a certain point of view. | The Classification Family includes Classifications devoted to describing the same subject matter, such as industries. |
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Concepts | A Category at a certain |
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Concepts | A structured list of mutually exclusive Categories. Such a structured list may be linear or hierarchically structured. | Classification Scheme has two subtypes - Classification Version and Classification Variant. In a hierarchical Classification Scheme, Categories organized into Levels determined by the hierarchy. The Categories in each Level are mutually exclusive and exhaustive. |
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Concepts | A Classification Variant is based on a Classification Version. In a variant, the Categories of the Classification Version are split, aggregated or regrouped to provide additions or alternatives to the standard order and structure of the base version. |
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Concepts | A Classification Version is a list of mutually exclusive Categories representing the version-specific values of the classification variable. | A Classification Version has a certain normative status and is valid for a given period of time. |
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Concepts | A Designation for a Category | Codes are unique within their Code List. Example: M (Male) F (Female) |
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Concepts | An element of a Code List. | A type of Node |
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Concepts | A list of Categories where each Category has a predefined Code assigned to it. | A kind of Node Set for which the Category contained in each Node has a Code assigned as a Designation. |
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Concepts | An alpha-numeric string used to represent a Code. | This is a kind of Sign used for Codes. |
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Business | The set of information that provides a textual description of the processes and methods used to undertake an Acquisition Activity. It provides a set of contextual and reference metadata about the acquisition process. |
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Concepts | Unit of thought differentiated by characteristics | ISO 1087-1 defines Concept as a "unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics". First, the term knowledge is poorly defined, and the word thought seems to capture the idea more cleanly. Second, different systems may try to capture the same thought but depend on different characteristics (i.e., attributes). For instance, typical demographic surveys care about age, sex, income, ethnicity, and education of persons. However, persons in a justice survey are either criminals or victims. |
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Concepts | Set of Concepts structured by the relations among them. | Here are 2 examples 1) Concept of Sex: Male, Female, Other 2) ISIC (the list is too long to write down) |
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Concepts | Set of Categories, irrespective of any relations among them | Here are 3 examples - 1) Sex categories (enumerated CD): male, female, other |
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Base | A collection of modes and strings by which an Organization Item can be contacted. | Contact modes can include (but are not limited to) telephone, e-mail or fax. In these cases, the relevant strings would be the telephone number, e-mail address and fax number. |
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Base | Gives semantic or structural meaning to the value of a Contextual String. | Context Key has two sub classes - Type and Language. For example: Type = Short Name, or Language = French |
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Base | A textual value, which is given context by one or more Context Keys. | A Contextual String can be given context by one or more Context Key. For example: Type = Short Name, or Language = French |
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Business | Governs how to determine the next Instrument Control based on factors such as the current location in the Instrument, the response to the previous questions etc. |
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Concepts | A tool for the linking of Classifications. A Correspondence Table systematically explains where, and to what extent, the Categories in may be found in different Classification Schemes of the same Classification or in Classification Schemes of different Classifications. | Given 2 Category Sets 1) Marital Status A: Married, Single 2) Marital Status B: Married, Single, Widowed, Divorced A Correspondence Table harmonizing the 2 Category Sets will contain Maps that link Categories from each set: Married (A) > Married (B) Single (A) < Single (B), Widowed (B), Divorced (B) where the arrow points to the Category which is more generic. |
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D
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Business | A means of exchanging data. | A Data Channel is an abstract object that describes the means for communicating with Data Resource(s). The Data Channel identifies the Instrument Implementation, Mode, and Data Resource that are to be used in a process. In some cases the Data Channel that is used by the Data Provider to send its responses could be different that the one used by the statistical office or organization to request information; the statistical office may put electronic formats that can be downloaded by the Data Provider and once answered returned by traditional mail. Two specialized objects are used to implement this abstract object: Channel Design Specification used at design time and Channel Activity Specification used at run time. |
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Base | An organization that uses data or metadata as input for further processing. |
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Structures | The Data Flow represents both the availability of data over time and the availability of sub sets of the possible data that could be made available according to a Data Structure. | There may be many data sets structured according to a Data Structure, perhaps made available at a pre-defined frequency (for example, monthly). |
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Structures | Identifies where a Data Set can be retrieved from. | This could be a Data Set structured in a known format and retrievable via a URL, or the URL of a service that can be queried to return such a Data Set. It could also be the location of a publication. |
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Structures | A placeholder in a Data Set for an item of factual information obtained by measurement or created by a production process | Example for Unit Data: (1212123, 43) could be the age in years on the 1st of January 2012 of a person (Unit) with the social security number 1212123. The social security number is an identifying variable for the person whereas the age, in this example, is a variable measured on the 1st of January 2012. |
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Base | An organization, association, group or person who delivers information for a Statistical Activity. | A Data Provider is an organization, association, group or person that possesses statistical information (that it has collected, produced, bought or otherwise acquired) and that is willing to supply those data and metadata to a statistical organization. | data supplier | |
Structures | An organized collection of stored information made of one or more Data Sets which may be sourced from multiple Acquisition or Statistical Activities. | Data Resources are collections of structured or unstructured information that are used by a statistical activity to produce information. This information object is a specialization of an Information Resource. | data source | |
Structures | An organized collection of data. | Examples of Data Sets could be observation registers, time series, longitudinal data, survey data, rectangular data sets, event-history data, tables, data tables, cubes, registers, hypercubes, and matrixes. A broader term for Data Set could be data. A narrower term for Data Set could be data element, data record, cell, field | database, data file, file, table | |
Structures | Defines the structure of an organized collection of data (Data Set). | The structure is described using Data Structure Components that can be either Attribute Components, Identifier Components or Measure Components. Examples for unit data include social security number, country of residence, age, citizenship, country of birth, where the social security number and the country of residence are both identifying components (Unit Identifier Component) and the others are measured variables obtained directly or indirectly from the person (Unit) and are Unit Measure Components. |
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Structures | The identification of the Represented Variable used in the context of a Data Structure. | A Data Structure Component can be an Attribute Component, Measure Component or an Identifier Component. |
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Concepts | The computational model for some data, characterized by axioms and operations, and containing a set of distinct values. | Here are 3 examples (with type families taken from ISO/IEC 11404) |
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Concepts | Association of a Unit with an element of a Value Domain. | A Datum is the actual instance of data that was collected. It is the value with populates a cell in a table. |
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Concepts | A Conceptual Domain, with each Concept defined by a Rule. | For example: All real numbers between 0 and 1 (where 'number' is a Concept, and 0 and 1 are possible designations.) | non-enumerated conceptual domain | |
Concepts | A Value Domain, with each Designation defined by a Rule. | For example: All real decimal numbers between 0 and 1 (Where 'decimal number' is a Designation, such as the numeric string 0.5 for the number one half) | non-enumerated value domain | |
Business | Methodological metadata that provide the basis for the specification of the information objects required as input to and output from the Process Step Design including Process Method and Rules. |
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Concepts | The name given to an object so it can be identified. | The association of a Concept with a Sign which denotes it. | term, code, appellation | |
Structures | A Represented Variable that is required to supply information in addition to the identification and measures of a Dimensional Data Set. | Example: The publication status of an observation such as provisional, revised. |
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Structures | A placeholder or cell in a Dimensional Data Set determined by the crossing of (all) the values for the Identifier Components to contain the value (Datum) for an Instance Variable (defined by a Measure Component) with respect to a given Unit. | A Dimensional Data Point is uniquely identified by the combination of exactly one value for each of the dimensions (Dimensional Identifier Component) and one measure (Dimensional Measure Component). There may be multiple values for the same Dimensional Data Point that is for the same combination of Dimension values and the same measure. The different values represent different versions of the data in the Data Point. Values are only distinguished on the basis of quality, date/time of measurement or calculation, status, etc. This is handled through the mechanisms provided by the Datum information object. | cell | |
Structures | A collection of aggregated data that conforms to a known structure. |
| hyper cube, macro data, n-cube, aggregated data, multi-dimensional data, dimensional data | |
Structures | Defines the structure of a collection of aggregated data by Represented Variables (in their respective roles as Dimensional Measure Components, Dimensional Attribute Component or Dimensional Identifier Components) and their Value Domains. | This is similar to the SDMX Data Structure Definition: Set of structural metadata associated to a Data Set, which includes information about how Concepts are associated with the measures, dimensions, and attributes of a data cube, along with information about the representation of data and related descriptive metadata. | file description, data set description | |
Structures | A Represented Variable that is required to identify or classify each observation value in a Dimensional Data Set. | Example: The name of a country in the European Union, the type of dwelling, the gender of a person, age-category of person | dimension | |
Structures | A Represented Variable that has been given a role in a collection of aggregated data to hold the summary values (means, mode, total, index, etc.) for a specific sub-population. | Examples: average age or total income in a sub-population | measure | |
Business | The set of executed processes and the actual resources required as inputs and produced as outputs in the dissemination of data for a given Population for a particular reference period, or of metadata. It describes the process and resources required in the dissemination of data and metadata in a Statistical Program. | This object holds Statistical Activity information that relates specifically to data and metadata dissemination. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Activity type. A special type of Dissemination Activity is Publication Activity. |
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Business | The specification of the resources required and processes used and description of relevant methodological information for a set of activities to disseminate data about a given Population, or metadata. | This object holds Statistical Program Design information that relates specifically to dissemination. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Program Design type. |
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Structures | The mechanism for delivering, and possibly creating, structured content dynamically in response to a consumer request and in accordance with defined parameters as provided by that consumer. | A Dissemination Service will deliver a Representation created by a process that it invokes. The inputs into the Dissemination Service determine and feed the process that is to be invoked. |
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E
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A Conceptual Domain expressed as a list of Categories. | Example: The Sex categories of 'Male' and 'Female'. |
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Concepts | A Value Domain expressed as a list of Designations. | Example - Sex Codes <m, male>; <f, female>; <o, other> |
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Business | A requirement for change (type of Statistical Need) that originates from a change in the operating environment of the statistical activity. | An Environment Change reflects variations in the context of execution of the Statistical Activity that create a need for a modification in the way that this activity is conducted. Environment Changes can be of different origins and also take different forms. They can result from a precise event (budget cut, new legislation enforced) or from a progressive process (technical or methodological progress, application or tool obsolescence). Other examples of Environment Changes include the availability of a new Data Resource, the opportunity for new collaboration between agencies, etc. |
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Business | A type of Assessment that evaluates the process outputs of a statistical activity based on a formalized methodological framework. | The evaluation can be done in regard to various characteristics of the output, for example its quality, the efficiency of the production process, its conformance to a set of requirements, etc. The result of an Evaluation Assessment can lead to the creation of a Statistical Need: in this case, the Statistical Need will reference the Evaluation Assessment for traceability and documentary purposes. |
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F
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A Population represented by records in a frame, which is the observable part of a Target Population and provides a reasonable approximation to it. | Example: most recent population census frame | object class |
G
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Business | An expression of the difference (the 'gap') between the current state and a desired future state. | A Gap Analysis is a type of Assessment that compares the actual state of the activity with a potential state that would correspond to the implementation of a change. An organization will list the factors that define its current state and what is needed to reach its target state. This will for example document a Business Case and help to take the decision to implement the change or not. | need assessment |
I
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Base | An abstract class that comprises the basic attributes and associations needed for identification, naming and other documentation. |
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Structures | The role given to a Represented Variable in the context of a Data Structure. The role is to identify the unit in an organized collection of data. | An Identifier Component is a sub-type of Data Structure Component. The personal identification number of a Swedish citizen for unit data or the name of a country in the European Union for dimensional data. |
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Base | A person who acts, or is designated to act towards a specific purpose. |
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Business | An outline of a need for new data or metadata required for a particular purpose. | An Information Request is a special case of Statistical Need that comes in a more organized way, for example by specifying on which Subject Field the information is required, or what type of Concept is to be measured, or even the type of Units that are under consideration. The Information Request can for example be expressed internally, or by another statistical organization or authority. |
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Structures | An abstract notion that is any organized collection of information. | The only concrete sub class is Data Resource. The Information Resource allows the model to be extended to other types of resource. |
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Business | The use of an Interviewer Instruction in a particular Instrument. |
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Business | The use of a Question in a particular Instrument. |
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Business | The use of a Question Block in a particular Instrument. |
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Business | The use of a Statement in a particular Instrument. |
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Concepts | The use of a Represented Variable within a Data Set. It may include information about the source of the data. | The Instance Variable is used to describe actual instances of data that have been collected. Here are 3 examples: |
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Business | A tool conceived to record the information that will be obtained from the Observation Units. | The Instrument describes the tool used to collect data. It could be a traditional survey, a set of requirements for a software collection program, a clinical procedure, etc. |
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Business | A record of the flow of an Instrument and its use of Questions, Interviewer Instructions and Statements. |
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Business | A concrete and usable tool for gathering information based on the rendering of the description made by an Instrument. | This represents an implementation of an Instrument. It describes the way in which an Instrument has been translated from a design to a concrete tool. It could represent a printed form, a software program made following a specific technological paradigm (web service, web scraping robot, etc.), the software used by a specialized device to collect data, etc. When it describes a Survey Instrument, it can contain descriptions of how each construct (e.g. Questions, Value Domains, validation Rules contained in the Instrument) is implemented. |
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Business | Directions given to an interviewer to aid the completion of the Instrument | Example: "Show prompt card before reading question" |
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L
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Base | The linguistic code used. This takes into account geographic variations, e.g. Canadian French or Australian English. |
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Concepts | Set of Concepts which are mutually exclusive and exhaustive | For example, section, division, group and class in ISIC Rev. 4. A Level often is associated with a Concept, which defines it. |
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Structures | Describes a type of Unit Data Record for one Unit within a Unit Data Set. | A Logical Record describes the record using variables of which one or more can uniquely identify the record (Identifier Component). It represents characteristics of a real or artificially constructed Unit, which could be represented by a Concept. The relationships between Logical Records are given by Record Relationships. |
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M
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Base | The organization or expert body that maintains an artefact. |
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Concepts | An expression of the relation between | Given 2 Category Sets
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Structures | The role given to a Represented Variable in the context of a Data Structure. The role is to hold the observed/derived values for a particular Unit in an organized collection of data. | A Measure Component is a sub-type of Data Structure Component. For example age and height of a person in a Unit Data Set or number of citizens and number of households in a country in a Data Set for multiple countries (Dimensional Data Set). |
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Business | A set of characteristics that describe the technique (the "how") used for the data acquisition through a given Data Channel based on a specific Instrument Implementation. | While the Data Channel describes the means used for data acquisition, the Instrument describes the "what" (i.e. the content, for example, in terms of questions in a questionnaire or a list of agreed time series codes in a data exchange template) and an Instrument Implementation describes the tool used to apply the Instrument; the Mode describes "how" the Data Channel is going to be used. The Mode is relevant for all types of Data Channels, Instrument Implementations and Instruments and can change over time. The list of Modes will potentially grow in the future and vary from organization to organization. |
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Business | A construct that has all of the properties of a Question but additionally links to sub questions. | A Multiple Question Item is a specific type of Question. |
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N
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A combination of a Category and related attributes. | A Node is created as a Category, Code or Classification Item for the purpose of defining the situation in which the Category is being used. |
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Concepts | A set of Nodes | Node Set is a kind of Concept System. Here are 2 examples:
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Structures | A Data Set whose structure is not described in a Data Structure. |
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O
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A Unit for which information can actually be obtained during data collection. | The sub-set of the Population of interest for which information can actually be obtained. For example, if the Population is the persons living in Ontario, the Observation Units might be persons currently residing in Ontario neither in an institution nor in a remote northern location nor temporarily out of the province. | collection unit, unit of observation, unit of collection | |
Base | An abstract class which has two sub classes: Organization Unit and Individual. |
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Base | The function or activities of an Organization Item, in statistical processes such as collection, processing and dissemination. |
| organization role | |
Base | A maintained collection of Organization Items. |
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Base | A unique framework of authority within which a person or persons act, or are designated to act, towards some purpose. |
| organization | |
Structures | Contains the specifications for the dynamic creation and delivery of a Representation by a Dissemination Service. | An Output Specification is a specialization of Parameter Input. It is in fact a request for the dynamic creation and delivery of a Representation. It contains references to the information (e.g. a Data Set, a Data Structure, a Code List, a publication plan) desired with specifications concerning selections, (technical) form and/or method of delivery. |
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P
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Production | Inputs used to specify which configuration should be used for a specific Process Step which has been designed to be configurable. | Parameter Inputs may be provided where Rules and/or Business Service interfaces associated with a particular Process Step have been designed to be configurable based on inputs passed in to the Process Step. |
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Concepts | The total membership of a defined class of people, objects or events | Population has a number of subtypes. Here are 3 examples – |
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Production | A nominated set of Process Step Designs, and associated Process Controls (flow), which have been highlighted for possible reuse. | In a particular statistical business process, some Process Steps may be unique to that business process while others may be applicable to other business processes. A Process can be seen as a reusable template. It is a means to accelerate design processes and to achieve sharing and reuse of design patterns which have approved effective. Reuse of process patterns can also lead to reuse of relevant Business Services and business Rules. |
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Production | A decision point which determines the flow between Process Steps. | The typical use of Process Control is to determine what happens next after a Process Step Design is executed. The possible paths, and the decision criteria, associated with a Process Control are specified as part of designing a production process. There is typically a very close relationship between the design of Process Steps and the design of Process Controls. |
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Production | Any instance of an information object which is supplied to a process step at the time its execution is initiated. | Process Input has three subtypes: Process Support Input, Parameter Input and Transformable Input, to be able to identify the range of roles that the Process Inputs perform in the course of a Process Step. A Process Input may be provided to a Process Step to: - "add value" to that input by producing an output which represents a "transformed" version of the input.
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Production | A record of the types of inputs required for a Process Step Design | The Process Input Specification enumerates the Process Inputs required at the time a Process Step Design is executed. For example, if five different Process Inputs are required at the time, the Process Input Specification will describe each of the five inputs. For each required Process Input the Process Input Specification will record: |
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Production | A specification of the technique which will be used to perform the unit of work. | The technique specified by a Process Method is independent from any choice of technologies and/or other tools which will be used to apply that technique in a particular instance. The definition of the technique may, however, intrinsically require the application of specific Rules (for example, mathematical or logical formulas). |
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Production | A Process Output whose purpose is to measure and report some aspect of how the Process Step performed during execution. | A Process Metric is a sub-type of Process Output which records information about the execution of a Process Step. For example, how long it took to complete execution of the Process Step and what percentage of records in the Transformable Input was updated by the Process Step to produce the Transformed Output. |
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Production | Any instance of an information object which is produced by a Process Step as a result of its execution. | Process Outputs are subtyped.
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Production | Identifies the types of Process Outputs the associated Process Step Design will produce when it is executed. | The Process Output Specification enumerates the Process Outputs that will be generated at the time the associated Process Step Design is executed. For example, if five different Process Outputs will be generated at the time of Process Step execution the Process Output Specification will describe each of the five outputs. For each Process Output the Process Output Specification will record: |
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Production | One in a series of tasks which comprise a statistical business process | A Process Step implements the Process Step Design specified in order to produce the outputs for which the process step was designed. |
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Production | Defines how a Process Step will be performed. This includes specifying the Process Inputs to that work and the Process Outputs that will be produced. | A Process Step can be as big or small as the designer of a particular business process chooses. From a design perspective, one Process Step can contain "sub-steps", each of which is conceptualized as a (smaller) Process Step in its own right. Each of those "sub-steps" may contain "sub-steps" within them and so on indefinitely. It is a decision for the process designer to what extent to subdivide steps. At some level it will be appropriate to consider a Process Step to be a discrete task (unit of work) without warranting further subdivision. At that level the Process Step is designed to process particular Process Inputs, using a particular Business Service, to produce particular Process Outputs. The flow between a Process Step and any sub steps is managed via Process Control. |
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Production | A record of the execution of a Process Step. The record includes the actual Process Inputs to, and Process Outputs from, each Process Step. as well as the evaluation of each Process Control (which, in turn, determines the specific sequence of Process Steps performed during execution). | Each Process is an instance of executing a repeatable Process Step Design. At the time of Process Step Execution specific instances of input objects (for example, specific Data Sets, specific Variables) will be supplied. |
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Production | A form of Process Input that influences the work performed by the Process Step, and therefore influences its outcome. | Process Support Input is a sub-type of Process Input. Typical Process Support Inputs include metadata resources such as Classifications or structural information used in the processing of data. |
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Structures | Static package of objects that can be disseminated as a whole. | A Product is a static presentation of artefacts created by fixed processes. The artefacts may be representations of data, visualizations, explanation, interpretation etc. Example: Publications, press releases, articles, list of classifications, etc. | publication | |
Business | The set of executed processes and the actual resources required as inputs and produced as outputs in the production of data for a given Population for a particular reference period. It describes the process and resources required in the production of data in a Statistical Program. | These objects hold Statistical Activity information that relates specifically to data production. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Activity type. |
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Business | The specification of the resources required and processes used and description of relevant methodological information for a set of activities to process data about a given Population. | This object holds Statistical Program Design information that relates specifically to production - the act of taking data that have been collected and transforming them. It inherits the relationships and attributes from the Statistical Program Design type. |
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Structures | A service-level agreement, a legal mandate, the terms of a mutual agreement, a memorandum of understanding, or any other terms/conditions which affect the provision of data. | The Provision Agreement does not need to have any formal consent of the Data Provider. For instance data collection via web scraping may identify the Data Provider but requires no formal agreement. A web service that provides data to anyone that queries it also may not need any formal agreement (save that perhaps of implicit agreement under the terms of the web service). Nevertheless, in both these cases the data may be structured according to a Data Structure which is associated to the Data Flow. |
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Business | The mechanism for creating structured, static content in response to an internal trigger. | A Publication Activity is a specific type of Dissemination Activity. A Publication Activity is triggered by an internal need to create a new Product. This is most commonly based on knowledge about a general need of potential consumers or the objective to actively provide information to consumers. Examples are the writing, editing and approval of a press release, web article or publication. |
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Q
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Business | Describes the text used to interrogate a respondent, the Concept that is measured and the allowed responses. | One specific type of Question is the Multiple Question Item. |
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Business | A set of Questions, Interviewer Instructions and Statements which are used together. | A statistical organization will often have a number of Question Blocks which they reuse in a number of Instruments. Examples of Question Blocks include:
| question module | |
Business | A set of Questions which are gathered or stored together for the purpose of discovery. | Questions in Question Groups are similar in some way (for example, all the Questions relate to obesity). | question pool, question bank |
R
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Structures | Describes relationships between Logical Records within a Unit Data Structure. It must have both a source Logical Record and a target Logical Record in order to define the relationship. | All relationships are defined in pairs. Hence multiple relationships may be needed to clarify all Record Relationships within a Unit Data Set e.g. household and person, household and dwelling etc. |
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Structures | A "custom-built" artefact that has a consumable (human or machine) format. It is the output of a Dissemination Service. It is what is ultimately delivered to the consumer. | A Representation brings together various maintainable artefacts and their related artefacts. It is essentially the application of rules to an artefact (and possibly its related artefacts) which transform the object into a format fit for consumption. This consumption may be something that is understandable to a person or a machine.
| presentation, publication, delivery, product | |
Concepts | The association of a Variable with a Value Domain which represents it. The Represented Variable is used as part of a Statistical Activity. | Here are 3 examples – |
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Production | A specific mathematical or logical expression which can accept inputs and be evaluated based on those inputs. | There are many forms of Rules and their purpose, character and expression can vary greatly. |
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S
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | Something that suggests the presence or existence of a fact, condition, or quality. | It is a perceivable object. This object is used to denote a Concept as a Designation. |
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Business | A report of facts in an Instrument | Statements are often included to provide further explanation to respondents. Example: |
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Business | The set of executed processes and the actual resources required as inputs and produced as outputs to investigate the characteristics of a given Population for a particular reference period. It may describe process and resources required to acquire (Acquisition Activity), produce (Production Activity), and disseminate (Dissemination Activity) data in a Statistical Program. | A Statistical Activity includes the run-time information used to actually execute a set of processes. Activities occur in the context of each Statistical Program Cycle and execute a particular Statistical Program Design. |
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Business | A requirement, request or other notification that will be considered by an organization. A Statistical Need does not have necessarily have structure or format - it is a 'raw' need as received by the organization. A Statistical Need may be of a variety of types including Environmental Change or Information Request. | The Statistical Need is a proposed or imposed change as it has been received by an organization. A Statistical Need is a raw expression of a proposed change, and is not necessarily well-defined. A related object - Change Definition - is created when a Statistical Need is analyzed by an organization. Change Definition expresses the raw need in well-defined, structured terms. |
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Business | A set of activities to investigate characteristics of a given Population. It describes the purpose and context of a set of Statistical Activities. | The Statistical Program is one of a family of objects that provide the environmental context in which a set of statistical activities is conducted. Statistical Program is the top level object that describes the purpose and objectives of a set of activities. Statistical Program will usually correspond to an ongoing activity such as a survey or output series. Some examples of Statistical Program are:
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Business | A set of activities to investigate characteristics of a given Population for a particular reference period. | A Statistical Program Cycle documents the execution of an iteration of a Statistical Program according to the associated Statistical Program Design for a certain reference period. It identifies the activities that are undertaken as a part of the cycle and the specific resources required and processes used and description of relevant methodological information used in this cycle defined by the Statistical Program Design. |
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Business | The specification of the resources required and processes used and description of relevant methodological information about the set of activities investigating characteristics of a given Population. Includes the Statistical Activities that are required to acquire (Acquisition Activity), produce (Production Activity), and disseminate (Dissemination Activity) data in a Statistical Program. | The Statistical Program Design is one of a family of objects that provide the operational context in which a set of statistical activities is conducted. |
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Concepts | One or more Concept Systems used for the grouping of Concepts and Categories for the production of statistics. | A Subject Field is a field of special knowledge under which a set of Concepts and their Designations is used. For example, labour market, environmental expenditure, tourism, etc. | subject area, theme | |
Business | A specialized kind of Instrument used for the explicit purpose of gathering statistical data. | Survey Instrument is a tool used to gather information from a Data Resource. It can be applied in several ways using different formats and modes, for example, as paper forms in face-to-face interviews, as online self-administered interviews, as computer-assisted questionnaires in telephone interviews, as electronic templates downloaded from the web and returned via email. The Survey Instrument provides a generic description of the data collection form independent of the format and mode. |
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Concepts | A Population for which information can be obtained in a survey. | A Population which can realistically be studied (example: people currently residing in the province of Ontario not in an institution nor in a remote northern location nor temporarily out of the province). The Survey Population is therefore often a subset of the Target Population | object class |
T
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A Population for which a Statistical Activity is designed to make estimates. | Population for which estimates are desired in a Statistical Activity, though practical considerations may dictate that some units are excluded. If so, the resulting sub-set of units for which information can be obtained is the Survey Population. | object class | |
Production | A type of Process Input whose content goes into a Process Step and is changed in some way by the execution of that Process Step. Some or all of the content will be represented in the Transformed Output. | Transformable Input is a sub-type of Process Input. Producers of official statistics often conceptualize data (and sometimes metadata) flowing through the statistical business process, having statistical value added by each Process Step and being transformed along the way. |
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Production | A Process Output (a result) which provides the "reason for existence" for the Process Step. | A Transformed Output is a sub-type of Process Output. Typically a Transformed Output is either a Process Input to a subsequent Process Step or it represents the final product from a statistical business process. |
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Base | Identifies a narrower meaning for the value in the Contextual String. |
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U
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | The object of interest in Statistical Activities and corresponds to at least one Population. | Here are 3 examples - 1. Individual US person (i.e., Arofan Gregory, Dan Gillman, Barack Obama, etc.) 2. Individual US computer companies (i.e., Microsoft, Apple, IBM, etc.) 3. Individual US universities (i.e., Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, Yale, etc.) |
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Structures | A Represented Variable that is required to supply information in addition to the identification and measures in a Unit Data Set. | Example: The publication status of an observation such as provisional, revised. |
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Structures | A placeholder in a Unit Data Record to contain the value (Datum) for an Instance Variable with respect to a given Unit. | For example (1212123, 43) could be the age in years on the 1st of January 2012 of a person (Unit) with the social security number 1212123. The social security number is an identifying variable for the person whereas the age, in this example, is a variable measured on the 1st of January 2012. The value can be obtained directly from the Unit or indirectly via a process of some kind. |
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Structures | Contains the specific values (as a collection of Unit Data Points) related to a given Unit as defined in a Logical Record. | For example (1212123, 48, American, United Kingdom) specifies the age (48) in years on the 1st of January 2012 in years, the current citizenship (American), and the country of birth (United Kingdom) for a person with social security number 1212123. |
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Structures | A collection of data that conforms to a known structure and describes aspects of one or more Units. | Example: A synthetic unit record file is a collection of artificially constructed Unit Data Records, combined in a file to create a Unit Data Set. | micro data, unit data, synthetic unit record file | |
Structures | Describes the structure of a Unit Data Set. | For example (social security number, country of residence, age, citizenship, country of birth) where the social security number and the country of residence are the identifying components (Unit Identifier Component) and the others are measured variables obtained directly or indirectly from the person (Unit) and are Unit Measure Components of the Logical Record. | file description, dataset description | |
Structures | The role that has been given to a Represented Variable, in a Unit Data Structure, to identify the Unit. | For example the person identification number in Norway. |
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Structures | The role that has been given to a specific Represented Variable to hold the observed or derived values related to a Unit as identified by the Unit Identifier Components, in an organized collection of data. | For example age and height of a person in a Unit Data Set |
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Concepts | Units by which some quantity is measured. | Here are 3 examples - 1. Kilograms; 2. Count; 3. Dollars |
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V
Object | Group | Definition | Explanatory Text | Synonyms |
Concepts | A set of allowed values (determinants). A Value Domain is a Concept System where all Concepts are designated, but in which there are no relations. | Here are 3 examples - 1) Sex codes (enumerated Value Domain) |
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Concepts | The use of a Concept as a characteristic of a Population that is intended to be measured as part of a Statistical Activity. | Here are 3 examples - 1. Sex 2. Number of employees 3. Endowment |
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