/
QDWG meeting minutes

QDWG meeting minutes

In Attendance: Noemi, Dan, Wendy, Kristi, Kati, Darren

  • Admin

  • 2025 recap and next steps

    • 3 important events: creation of the group, Dagstuhl and EDDI + Hackathon

    • Review and update of https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dx6aQQ5mQyB5K4ZzyfbFDs8gGf4gMWNcKvTY0_QcagI/edit?tab=t.0

      • focus since Dagstuhl and for this first half of the year: working with DDI-CDI WG (candidate release). See updates under https://github.com/ddi-cdi/ddi-cdi/issues/29

        • If anyone has a use case to add, reach out to Noemi. We can describe this to improve the ability to convey our needs to the CDI group. The Qualitative Election Study of Britain could be one and Kristi and Noemi will work on this.

      • work-in-progress document: list of groups or initiatives related to qualitative data with which the QDWG can forge collaborations and/or promote DDI products. Please provide information via https://forms.gle/av6JbSkbgceuwVXN6

      • priority for this year: core requirements for incorporation into CDI and all the other DDI products

      • controlled vocabularies or semantic artefacts (from a semantic point of view) were identified as an activity for this group:

        • Rationale: QualiBank uses several controlled vocabularies, but they aren’t standardized (e.g. occupations scheme); QualidataNet is also working in the creation of controlled vocabularies for qualitative research methods; QESB uses keywords and LLM for transcripts tagging.

        • the need for a list or catalog of semantic artifacts relevant for qualitative data description should be included in our Work Plan

        • Social Sciences OntoPortal will play a role in this regard as it integrates VocBench and Protégé management capabilities

        • making these Semantic artifacts available as both SKOS artefacts and as DDI Codelists/category schemes would be the most useful for the community → However, this is isn’t an aspect that our group should cover, but the DDI Alliance (CV WG?) could make (or refer to) recommendations how to publish interoperable terminologies.

  • Next meeting Jan 28, 2026 at 3 PM CET?

    • Noemi isn’t available

    • Kati may start the meeting room

    • preliminary agenda: work on the Work Plan 2026 as was done today (review, update, prioritize)

In Attendance: Noemi, Dan, Hilde, Wendy, Kristi, Kati

  • Admin

  • Short summary EDDI25

    • Fruitful conference and potential new collaborations.

    • Hackathon: While working on a given project, we realized the need for application profiles that explain how people “speak” the “DDI language” to improve interoperability (e.g. DDI element “data access”). This relates to our plan (see the November 5, 2025, meeting). Defining the core requirements for QD description will help us to identify elements in different DDI products, as well as others (e.g., DCAT and Schema.org), that might cover them. We can then create corresponding application profiles.

  • IASSIST 2026 Call for papers: Brainstorming

    • Noemi will try to come up with a suggestion and discuss it with the group via email. However there is not enough time left.

    • Some ideas: Presenting a Dagstuhl use case; presenting our group with a focus on CDI work (similar to EDDI -> that might be easier)

  • List of external groups or initiatives related to qualitative data

    • Item in our Plan 2026 “Create a directory of initiatives and groups related to qualitative data in which the group members are currently involved.”

    • Goal: Get an overview of where we have representatives when it comes to spreading and getting information, finding collaborations and use cases for our work, representing the group within those communities, and promoting DDI guidelines and products.

    • Please provide input via this form:https://forms.gle/av6JbSkbgceuwVXN6

    • First and foremost, it is intended as an internal work-in-progress resource for organizational issues.

    • When collaborations are forged, we should share this information with the DDI community, including the Marketing Working Group and SB (Stakeholders Roadmap).

    • We should use the technical infrastructure that the TC will set up at the beginning of the year.

  • Next meeting Jan 14, 2026 at 3 PM CET

    • New calendar series for next year will be sent

    • Recap and next steps.

    • If you have suggestions for topics or would like more information on a particular aspect of our work, please contact the chair or co-chair.

In Attendance: Noemi, Dan, Kristi, Kati, Filipi

  • Admin

    • Contact from DDI Training WG: there is a need for a couple of introductory slides for traditional qualitative researchers attending DDI training sessions.

      • There are some people in the QDWG with experience in training quali researchers who might be able to help.

      • Context and focus of the DDI training is needed to be able to build the needed introductory slides.

      • As a member of the Training group, Dan offered to act as liaison.

  • Plan for 2026 activities (aligned to DDI Scientific Board Work Plan)

    • Review of a first draft prepared by Noemi https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dx6aQQ5mQyB5K4ZzyfbFDs8gGf4gMWNcKvTY0_QcagI/edit?tab=t.0

      • clarify “qualitative data”?

      • Members need to identify groups they have contact with. Noemi will set up an internal document to contain the list of members and outside contacts. Members are encouraged to add items to the list.

      • Continued monitoring of developments in AI is vital. How they help us and the organizations we work for are both important, but also in their role of consumers of qualitative data.

    • It should be finished and sent to SB by the end of the week

    • Members to make suggestions and add comments to the document by Friday before evening

  • Lightning talk at EDDI 2025

    • Work on: IntroductionKickOff_DDIQualitativeDataWorkingGroup.pptx

      • Provide scope

      • Focus on DDI descriptions

    • Quick 6 minute talk, little time for detail. Dagstuhl's work is too detailed.

    • Purpose, objectives, deliverables are important but we need also something more appealing to grab attention

    • Include the example of the livesibs showing how annotations can be connected to DDI-CDI?

  • Next meeting 2025-12-17, 3 p.m. CET

    • Meeting during EDDI (2025-12-03) is cancelled - please remove it from your calendar

In Attendance: Noemi, Dan, Hilde, Wendy, Kristi, Andrew, Irena, Kati Mozygemba (QualidataNet, Qualiservice)

  • Admin

  • Topics of interest > to be converted in a Plan for 2026 activities (aligned to DDI Scientific Board Work Plan)

    1. Darren will be asked about the topic identified last time (get rid of https://dam.data-archive.ac.uk/standards/qudex_v03_01.xsd) and how it would be transformed into an action plan

    2. Improve mixed methods data descriptions with DDI-CDI: to be addressed at Dagstuhl by the QD subgroup

    3. Improvements/Modifications to relMat/OtherMaterial Types in Codebook and Lifecycle (e.g. Segment Type not currently aligned with W3C Selectors) →

      1. we need to identify core requirements for QD that will guide how we propose to modify the standards (collaborating with DDI standard experts since features and uses of each one are different: solutions will differ but the core requirements remain)

      2. It’s important as first step to collect how people in the group is using DDI products for handling qualitative data

      3. Also identifying personas (data managers, researchers…): Who would use DDI products to handle QD to solve which problems → this will help with the redaction of guidelines and how-to documents for specific communities (see next point d)

    4. Promoting the use of DDI products and standards include

      1. the creation of guidelines, and best practice documents for using DDI products but also

      2. reaching out to our (and other) communities (IASSIST, CESSDA, DDI, RDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, SSHOC) through mailing lists, conferences, networking (we want to learn from them, and we also want them to get to know the DDI standards and see how we could work together to fill gaps in QD descriptions)

      3. Members of the group should keep an eye on the groups and initiatives they collaborate with, to identify potential collaborations and joint projects. A list of who is working with whom may be helpful.

    5. Assessing AI developments to handle or as users of qualitative data include

      1. Exploring what other metadata initiatives do: Croissant Format Specification, Croissant RAI Specification or DCMI

      2. Members of the group should inform about AI initiatives in their areas/institutions and how these could be relevant for QD

  • Next meeting 2025-11-19, 3 p.m. CET → We will work on our lightning talk at EDDI 2025 and review the QDWG plan (Noemi will work on a suggestion for item plans by November 17)

In Attendance: Noemi Betancort (QualidataNet), Darren Bell (UKDS), Dan Gillman (Data Unchained), Emilie Dobrovolski (Institute for Employment Research, IAB), Hilde Orten (Sikt), Albert Meroño-Peñuela (King’s College London), Frédérique Gros (Progedo), Benjamin Beuster (Sikt), David Schimmel (RWTH), Wendy Thomas (DDI TC), Kristi Winters (GESIS / Qualitative Election Study of Britain), Andrew Wirzburger (ICPSR, U of Michigan), Laura Molloy (CODATA), Sebastian Karcher (Qualitative Data Repository, QDR), Irena Vipavc Brvar (UL-ADP, CESSDA), Archana Bidargaddi (SIKT)

Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MCiv3xPWOYLHRiTKCufSE1vPwwwEhkW4/view?usp=drive_link

  • Some new members joined the group and others are interested in following our progress or contributing to it occasionally.

  • Chair and Vice-Chair nominations

    • Noemi Betancort volunteers to be chair

    • Dan Gillman volunteers to be vice-chair

    • Noemi will email those members who could not join the meeting to ask if they would like to apply for either position.

    • Once all the candidate names have been collected, Noemi will send out a poll for voting/agreeing.

  • Group communication and meeting frequency:

  • Participation/collaboration with other DDI and external working groups:

    • DDI Products working groups for Codebook, Lifecycle, and CDI

    • DDI Training WG for the purposes of outreach

    • Technical Committee (TC) for scrutinising and approving changes

    • Groups outside the Alliance, to provide expertise and help to understand user needs and practices regarding the description and sharing of qualitative and mixed data: e.g. https://iassistdata.org/community/qualitative-social-science-and-humanities-data-interest-group/

    • DDI Metadata Publication and Access WG (relevant for metadata publishers/archives; we will be looking specifically at OAI-PMH standard usage for DDI)

    • We should contact them when addressing topics within their scope.

  • Topics of interest classified in big areas of action related to the purpose and goals of the group:

  • EDDI Conference

  • Further topics/discussions:

In Attendance: Darren Bell, Dan Gillman, Maureen Haaker, Hilde Orten, Noemi Betancort

  • Channels for the call for participation

    • DDI users + DDI Newsletter (Darren, Hilde)

    • Qualitative Data IASSIST (Maureen)

    • CESSDA (Darren)

    • EDDI (Noemi) - Kind of introductory presentation to the group

      • There will also be a discussion about the group's priorities and other topics related to qualitative data at the SB's side meeting (the agenda will be set prior to the EDDI).

  • Call for participation (content and time)

    • Darren will draft the text and

    • Maureen will set up a google form for people interested in joining to fill out. The form will gather the following information: email address, if they are willing to chair or nominate someone, topics they would like to discuss.

    • It will be sent in the first week of September, so that Kick-Off Meeting can take place by the end of September

  • Group communication and information channels:

    • Noemi will start a poll once we have the email addresses of the members to find the most suitable day and time for the meetings. As this can be challenging, it is important to keep meeting notes and recordings.

    • Meeting twice a month was suggested, but it will be discussed in the first meeting.

    • Darren will ask Wendy to create a Google folder for us.

    • In a later time, we can consider to have a dedicated github page similar to ddi-cdi (for documenting projects and use cases)

  • Other organizational issues: Noemi is the WG’s Scientific Board contact.

  • Pending CDI [qd] Subgroup tasks:

    • Two weeks ago, the TC discussed the amendments document and agreed to implement an annotation solution.

      • Flavio wonders if this needs an annotation component: this will be discussed at the next CDI meeting Aug 20, 2025 .

      • These and other minor changes could be included in a minor CDI release by the end of the year.

      • The concrete proposal should be implemented before Dagstuhl in order to work with the model on the use cases.

    • The CDI QD subgroup has now finished its work, and future tasks will be addressed in the main QDWG.