Shifting from the Codebook Model to the Lifecycle Model of DDI:The Specifications of the French Center of Socio-Political Data

The French Center of Socio-Political Data has been disseminating surveys provided by external researchers since 2005. We have been using DDI-C to document the databases in Nesstar Publisher. Since 2012, the CDSP has been the data producer of the ELIPSS panel. Panel members have been administered a monthly web questionnaire. To date, this has resulted in 15 databases that are to be disseminated to the scientifically interested public. What are the best practices for using DDI effectively in this context? Our first challenge was to identify an approach in which the entire lifecycle of the data collection, processing and archiving of the early-phase project ELIPSS is addressed. To meet its longitudinal information needs, we took DDI-L under consideration. At the same time, shifting to the Lifecycle model raised the issue of the migration of the existing databases of the CDSP catalogue into the new standard. We started by making a list of specifications: level of metadata detail, possibility of upgrading DDI-C documented databases into DDI-L, user-friendliness of the interface, etc. We then compared different tools (Colectica, Questasy, DDI Editor etc.) and selected the one that best fits our needs. We also identified good documentation practices. Our paper presents this strateg