Under each of the headings below you will find various guidelines on how to navigate the catalogue. If you are looking for general information regarding the content of the catalogue, please go to the about page.
SEARCH FOR A REFERENCE
You can search from the search bar on the home page of the catalogue. You can enter one or more keywords. The engine searches all the metadata: you can therefore search by general keywords, but also by type of survey, collection mode, producer, researcher, etc.
Moreover, by clicking on one of the buttons corresponding to the eight INED themes, the catalogue shows you all the surveys associated with this theme.
In addition to a search bar, the catalogue page offers various tools to refine your search.
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Choose a type of data: the different tabs under the search bar correspond to the different types of data found in the catalogue. You can search among all the references regardless of their type (tab "All"), or search directly among the references of a certain type (Microdata, Tables, ...).
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Search for variables directly: you can choose to search directly for variables using the "Variable view" button. In this case, the search is carried out in the metadata of the variables (labels, modalities, etc.). The result of your search is a list of variables, indicating the text of the question associated with each of the variables, as well as the reference and the data file they originate from.
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Use the filters: on the left-hand side of the screen, the filters allow you to refine your search results.
BROWSE METADATA
Once your search is complete and you have identified the reference you are interested in, you can go to the specific page for that reference.
On this page you will find some important information in the header, including the DOI of the reference which you need to cite if you use the reference data in a publication. You will also find links to download the survey metadata in PDF, XML or JSON.
Under the header are different tabs:
- Study description: this tab contains all the metadata associated with the reference. You will find information on the research teams, a summary, the themes addressed by the survey, the data collection process, the collection tools, the modalities of access to the data, etc. The menu on the left allows you to navigate more quickly through the metadata and to go directly to a specific section.
- Data description: if the variables of a survey have been documented, you will find on this tab all the metadata associated with these variables. You can explore the different data files and groups of variables using the menu on the left. Once you have chosen a file, you can view the specific information for each variable, as well as some descriptive statistics.
- Downloads: in this tab you will find all the documents and resources associated with the survey, including questionnaires, instructions to interviewers, survey presentation materials, collection reports, etc. You can download these documents.
- Get data: this tab allows you to access the data if it is available. If the data is available via another institution or archive, you will find the link to it here.
- Related publications: this tab provides a list of scientific publications associated with the reference, or links to bibliographies.
- Related datasets: this tab links to other references in the catalogue that are related to the reference you are currently consulting, because they are part of the same survey series, have common themes, etc.
COMPARE METADATA
When you search directly for variables, you can select variables from the search results by checking the box to the left of each result to compare them. Once the first variable is checked, a box appears at the bottom right of your screen indicating the number of variables selected. You can unfold this box to see the list of selected variables (and possibly remove some from the selection).
Once you have selected all the variables you wish to compare, you can click on "Compare" at the top of the results list or in the box. A new page is displayed where you can view the metadata associated with each of the selected variables side by side. You can export the contents of this page by clicking on the desired export format at the top right of the page.
Please note that the documentation of the variables for each reference is ongoing; only some of the data files have been documented. For more information on the questions, data files or variables, please consult the documents available in the "Resources" tab on the page of each reference.