Survey Metadata Research Articles

Comparison Of Reported Timing Of Ecological Momentary Assessments Of Physical Activity With Survey Metadata

Comparison Of Reported Timing Of Ecological Momentary Assessments Of Physical Activity With Survey Metadata

Using the Novel Musculoskeletal Emergency Medicine Assessment Tool: A Feasibility Study.

Background and objective While musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders account for a significant number of primary care and emergency department (ED) visits, there are widely recognized shortcomings and gaps in MSK education throughout medical training. Undergraduate medical education (UME) frequently fails to impart clinically relevant MSK knowledge, while many emergency medicine (EM) residency graduates report feeling unprepared to manage MSK complaints. Existing MSK assessments are not tailored to EM and may inaccurately assess specialty-specific MSK knowledge. The novel validated Musculoskeletal Emergency Medicine Assessment Tool (MEAT) holds great promise in standardizing EM MSK knowledge assessment. This trial of feasibility was conducted to assess the viability and practicality of using MEAT to evaluate MSK knowledge among incoming resident physicians in EM programs. Methods This feasibility study involved 21 incoming EM resident physicians from two programs at a single institution. MEAT was administered online during orientation, and demographic data and survey metadata were collected. UME MSK education details were obtained, and MEAT scores were analyzed. Results Participants reported no difficulties in accessing or understanding the 50-question online MEAT, resulting in a 100% response rate. The average pretest score for all interns was 29.9, with a median of 30. Most participants had documented UME MSK education, but curricular content varied widely. The participants took an average of 32 minutes to complete the assessment. Conclusions MEAT demonstrated successful implementation and high response rates, suggesting a high level of feasibility. Thetool can be used to assess baseline MSK knowledge and ultimately track progression during residency with the potential for evaluating educational interventions once further validation studies have been performed.Further adoption of MEAT across multiple EM residency programs will help to enhance the tool's generalizability.

Beyond Taxonomic Identification: Integration of Ecological Responses to a Soil Bacterial 16S rRNA Gene Database.

High-throughput sequencing 16S rRNA gene surveys have enabled new insights into the diversity of soil bacteria, and furthered understanding of the ecological drivers of abundances across landscapes. However, current analytical approaches are of limited use in formalizing syntheses of the ecological attributes of taxa discovered, because derived taxonomic units are typically unique to individual studies and sequence identification databases only characterize taxonomy. To address this, we used sequences obtained from a large nationwide soil survey (GB Countryside Survey, henceforth CS) to create a comprehensive soil specific 16S reference database, with coupled ecological information derived from survey metadata. Specifically, we modeled taxon responses to soil pH at the OTU level using hierarchical logistic regression (HOF) models, to provide information on both the shape of landscape scale pH-abundance responses, and pH optima (pH at which OTU abundance is maximal). We identify that most of the soil OTUs examined exhibited a non-flat relationship with soil pH. Further, the pH optima could not be generalized by broad taxonomy, highlighting the need for tools and databases synthesizing ecological traits at finer taxonomic resolution. We further demonstrate the utility of the database by testing against geographically dispersed query 16S datasets; evaluating efficacy by quantifying matches, and accuracy in predicting pH responses of query sequences from a separate large soil survey. We found that the CS database provided good coverage of dominant taxa; and that the taxa indicating soil pH in a query dataset corresponded with the pH classifications of top matches in the CS database. Furthermore we were able to predict query dataset community structure, using predicted abundances of dominant taxa based on query soil pH data and the HOF models of matched CS database taxa. The database with associated HOF model outputs is released as an online portal for querying single sequences of interest (https://shiny-apps.ceh.ac.uk/ID-TaxER/), and flat files are made available for use in bioinformatic pipelines. The further development of advanced informatics infrastructures incorporating modeled ecological attributes along with new functional genomic information will likely facilitate large scale exploration and prediction of soil microbial functional biodiversity under current and future environmental change scenarios.

Gateway to Global Aging Data: Resources for Cross-National Comparisons of Family, Social Environment, and Healthy Aging.

The Gateway to Global Aging Data (Gateway; g2aging.org) is a data and information platform developed to facilitate cross-country analyses on aging, especially those using the international family of Health and Retirement studies. We provide a brief introduction to the Gateway to Global Aging Data, discussing its potential for cross-national comparisons of family, social environment, and healthy aging. We summarize the survey metadata, study characteristics, and harmonized data available from the Gateway, describing the population represented in each study. We portray cohort characteristics and key measures of health and social environment from 37 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia using harmonized data. Significant cross-country heterogeneity was observed in many measures of family, social environment, and healthy aging indicators. For example, there was a threefold difference in coresidence with children, ranging from 14% in Sweden to over 46% in Spain and Korea in 2014. From 2002 to 2014, the difference between informal care receipt in individuals of low and high wealth decreased by 6% in the United States and remained unchanged in England. The percentage of individuals aged 50-59 living alone in 2012 varied 15-fold, from a low of 2% in China to a high of 30% in Mexico. By partnering with nationally representative studies around the globe, the Gateway to Global Aging Data facilitates comparative research on aging through the provision of easy-to-use harmonized data files and other valuable tools.

Rompimento de barragens na literatura científica internacional: Uma análise bibliométrica

O rompimento de barragens é um tema que recentemente ganhou destaque na mídia, sobretudo, devido a grandes desastres envolvendo perdas de vidas humanas. Uma análise bibliométrica do tema é oportuna para que se possa sistematizar estudos com embasamento científico para subsidiar medidas de segurança e prevesão deste tipo de acidente. Neste sentido, este trabalho analisou a produção científica internacional sobre rompimento de barragens através de uma abordagem quantitativa que objetivou mensurar a dinâmica bibliométrica do tema no período compreendido entre os anos de 1945 e início de 2021. Foi feita uma pesquisa na coleção principal da base de dados interdisciplinar Web of Science considerando-se como principais critérios o recorte temporal supracitado e a ocorrência da palavra-chave “Dam Break” no título das publicações. Pesquisou-se apenas pela modalidade artigo, publicado na língua inglesa. Os metadados da pesquisa foram baixados no formato de planilha do Excel e foram aplicadas estatísticas descritivas para classificar e quantificar as informações. Os resultados mostram que a ocorrência do tema na literatura internacional só se verifica a partir do ano de 1980, tendo como principal veículo de comunicação o Journal of Hydraulic Research, e o principal país de origem, a China. O total de publicações encontradas foi de 306 artigos, sendo 44 considerados de maior impacto na literatura científica, de acordo com o H-index. Conclui-se que o tema pesquisado vem crescendo em importância nos últimos anos com o aumento do número de publicações, principalmente nas áreas de Recursos Hídricos e Engenharia Civil, a partir do ano de 2006.

Survey Data Collection Methods and Discrepancy in the Sociological Study of Religious Congregations

AbstractSurveys of religious congregations are a mainstay of sociological research on organized religion in the United States. How accurate, reliable, and comparable are the data generated from the disparate methods used by researchers? We analyze four congregational surveys to show how two components of data collection—sampling design and survey response rate—may contribute to differences in population estimates between the surveys. Results show that in three populations of congregations (all religious traditions, Catholic parishes, and Hispanic Catholic parishes), estimates of key congregational measures, such as head clergy characteristics, congregational size, and Hispanic composition, are susceptible to differences in data collection methods. While differences in sampling design contribute to some of the variation in variable estimates, our unique analysis of survey metadata shows the importance of high response rates for producing accurate estimates for many variables. We conclude with suggestions for improving congregational data collection methods and efforts to compare survey estimates.

Accounting for non-response bias using participation incentives and survey design: An application using gift vouchers

Standard corrections for missing data rely on the strong and generally untestable assumption of missing at random. Heckman-type selection models relax this assumption, but have been criticized because they typically require a selection variable which predicts non-response but not the outcome of interest, and can impose bivariate normality. In this paper we illustrate an application using a copula methodology which does not rely on bivariate normality. We implement this approach in data on HIV testing at a demographic surveillance site in rural South Africa which are affected by non-response. Randomized incentives are the ideal selection variable, particularly when implemented ex ante to deal with potential missing data. However, elements of survey design may also provide a credible method of correcting for non-response bias ex post. For example, although not explicitly randomized, allocation of food gift vouchers during our survey was plausibly exogenous and substantially raised participation, as did effective survey interviewers. Based on models with receipt of a voucher and interviewer identity as selection variables, our results imply that 37% of women in the population under study are HIV positive, compared to imputation-based estimates of 28%. For men, confidence intervals are too wide to reject the absence of non-response bias. Consistent results obtained when comparing different selection variables and error structures strengthen these conclusions. Our application illustrates the feasibility of the selection model approach when combined with survey metadata.

Weekly observations of online survey metadata obtained through home computer use allow for detection of changes in everyday cognition before transition to mild cognitive impairment

IntroductionSubtle changes in instrumental activities of daily living often accompany the onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) but are difficult to measure using conventional tests. MethodsWeekly online survey metadata metrics, annual neuropsychological tests, and an instrumental activity of daily living questionnaire were examined in 110 healthy older adults with intact cognition (mean age = 85 years) followed up for up to 3.6 years; 29 transitioned to MCI during study follow-up. ResultsIn the baseline period, incident MCI participants completed their weekly surveys 1.4 hours later in the day than stable cognitively intact participants, P = .03, d = 0.47. Significant associations were found between earlier survey start time of day and higher memory (r = −0.34; P < .001) and visuospatial test scores (r = −0.37; P < .0001). Longitudinally, incident MCI participants showed an increase in survey completion time by 3 seconds per month for more than the year before diagnosis compared with stable cognitively intact participants (β = 0.12, SE = 0.04, t = 2.8; P = .006). DiscussionWeekly online survey metadata allowed for detection of changes in everyday cognition before transition to MCI.

Tools for automated acoustic monitoring within the R package monitoR

The R package monitoR contains tools for managing an acoustic-monitoring program including survey metadata, template creation and manipulation, automated detection and results management. These tools are scalable for use with small projects as well as larger long-term projects and those with expansive spatial extents. Here, we describe typical workflow when using the tools in monitoR. Typical workflow utilizes a generic sequence of functions, with the option for either binary point matching or spectrogram cross-correlation detectors.

Consolidation and Standardization of Survey Operations at a Decentralized Federal Statistical Agency

Abstract With tighter federal budgets on the horizon, the National Agricultural Statistics Service decided in 2009 to pursue three architectural transformations, primarily to provide savings in staff resource costs by enabling the centralization or regionalization of survey operations. The transformational initiatives involved: (1) centralizing and consolidating network services from 48 locations; (2) standardizing survey metadata and integrating survey data into easily accessible databases across all surveys; and (3) consolidating and generalizing survey applications for the agency’s diverse survey program. The three architectural transformations will be described as well as initial efforts to consolidate and standardize survey operations across the agency.

Metadata in ARL Libraries: A Survey of Metadata Practices

This study assesses the current metadata practices and trends in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries, based on the survey Metadata conducted in spring 2007 (SPEC Kit 298: Metadata), a collaborative effort with the staff at the ARL. The survey investigates how metadata has been implemented in ARL member libraries: what kinds of projects or initiatives have been undertaken, what types of digital objects are associated with metadata, who are creating metadata, what schemas and tools are used to create and manage metadata, and the organizational changes and challenges resulting from the adoption of metadata in the libraries. The author summarizes her observations of the findings and the main themes that emerged from the metadata practices in libraries. She assesses the changing context of metadata creation and management and the evolution of metadata workflow and best practices in libraries. The author also discusses the roles and responsibilities of metadata professionals and the implications of metadata practices for the library and information community.

Australian Commonwealth Government Statistical Clearing House: Vehicle for Reducing Response Load and Improving Survey Quality

SummaryThe recently constituted Commonwealth Government Statistical Clearing House was set up in response to a small business task force recommendation. It is operated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as part of that agency's coordination role. Its primary goal is to ensure that surveys impose minimum load on business respondents and that the data collected are fit for their intended uses. Surveys affecting 50 or more businesses conducted by or on behalf of Australian Government departments or agencies, including the ABS itself, are subject to a clearance process. Those that are not approved are not permitted to start or continue. Statistical Clearing House review procedures not only aim to reduce respondent load and promote good design, they also ensure good documentation and facilitate data sharing. Metadata descriptions of all the surveys subject to review are recorded in the Commonwealth Register of Surveys of Businesses, publicly accessible via the Internet.This paper augments and updates previously published material. It outlines the objectives, development and operation of the Statistical Clearing House from the perspective of its contribution to reduction in respondent load and improvement in survey quality. It describes the review criteria and the survey metadata that are required to support the clearance process. It briefly compares and contrasts similar programs at other statistical agencies. Finally, it summarises the first year of operations. The tentative conclusion is that the benefits brought by the program in terms of increased survey taker awareness of respondent load and quality issues outweigh the additional work required by survey managers to comply with the program and the costs of administering it.

Use of indicators from data editing for monitoring the quality of the survey process: the Italian information system for survey documentation (SIDI)

Information about the presence of non-sampling errors affecting survey data is of importance both for final users and for survey managers. Besides the direct methods for evaluating the effects of non-sampling errors on survey estimates, the analysis of data obtained from each phase of the production process represents an easy and inexpensive way to obtain information about quality. In particular in this work we would like to focus the attention on the editing phase and its relationships with the other phases of the production process. In fact, the amount of errors detected during the editing and imputation phase can provide information about the non-sampling errors affecting the previous phases of the production process. On the other hand, the editing and imputation procedures should be carefully defined and tested before their application on actual data in order to avoid overediting or other unpleasant “side-effects”. Given the relationship between non-sampling errors, it is important to jointly analyse quality indicators coming from the different phases of the survey production process. To this purpose, ISTAT has developed an information system devoted to embody survey metadata and quality indicators for each of the process phases. This information system enables both to monitor quality indicators over time for a single survey and to compare quality indicators among homogeneous surveys. A set of these quality indicators related to editing and imputation activity are described in this work and a strategy for their interpretation is also presented. Finally an application of these indicators to the Italian Labour Force survey is shown.

A proposal for a survey-oriented metainformation system

A number of basic concepts and ideas concerning metadata in statistical information systems are presented and discussed. Some experiences from earlier developments in the field of statistical metainformation systems are accounted for. An outline of an architecture for future developments of statistical metainformation systems is given. The architecture is based on the principle that the structure of an information system should reflect the structure of the object system that the information system processes information about. Thus a statistical metainformation system should have a structure reflecting the structure of a statistical survey. Two main sources of survey metadata are identified: survey design decisions and the survey process itself. Survey metadata should be captured as close to the sources and as automatically as possible. In practice this means that survey metadata should be captured and organized as an automatical side-effect of other tasks during the planning, operation, and evaluation of the survey.