The ControlledVocabulary view is intended to allow for the structured description of a vocabulary in DDI4. A vocabulary can be described as a simple set of terms and definitions, or a set of terms and definitions with a structure such as a hierarchy.
Use Cases:
A DDI4 ExternalControlledVocabularyEntry could reference a vocabulary entry described in DDI4. This would allow processing by software able to interpret DDI4.
Vocabularies having a structure more complex than a simple table.
Target Audiences:
DDI4 user communities
Restricted Classes:
Concept is extended by Category, ConceptualVariable, RepresentedVariable, InstanceVariable, Population, UnitType and Universe
ExternalMaterial is extended by ExternalAid
General Documentation:
The representation of a controlled vocabulary in DDI4 consists of four classes:
ControlledVocabulary – The structured collection of vocabulary entries
VocabularyEntry – Assigns a definition to a term
VocabularyRelationStructure – Allows for the description of a complex structure among the terms, such as a hierarchy
ExternalMaterial – Points to material outside of a current DDI4 instance.
The ControlledVocabulary uses a set of VocabularyEntryIndicators to delineate the entries in the vocabulary. These may be ordered with an index. The VocabularyRelationStructure uses a set of VocabularyEntryRelations to describe relationships among the vocabulary entries. A “source” entry might have a relationship to several “target” entries, for example one entry (e.g. Vehicle) might be a more general term for several other terms (e.g. car, bike, skateboard). This relationship may be described with a semantic, a relationSpecification (e.g. GeneralSpecific), and whether the relation is total or not.
A functional view is a collection of classes in DDI that covers a functional use case.
These are not namespaces.