Title

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

Author(s)

Alexander Kindel Alexander Kindel (Princeton University)

Vineet Bansal Vineet Bansal (Princeton University)

Kristin Catena Kristin Catena (Princeton University)

Thomas Hartshorne Thomas Hartshorne (Princeton University)

Kate Jaeger Kate Jaeger (Princeton University)

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.

Creation Date

2018-10

Section URL ID

Paper Number

WP18-10-FF

URL

https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/wp18-10-ff.pdf

File Function

Jel

F13

Keyword(s)

metadata, survey research, data sharing, quantitative methodology, computational social science

Suppress

false

Series

8