ADP - SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA ARCHIVES

 

Simple search can be used to search for a word within any field in the metadata.

 

Nesstar does not enable advanced searching using the root of the word. Therefore we need to write our searched word in different cases and grammatical numbers (singular, dual, plural) and use various synonyms. Only so, you will find all studies that include your search word.  Additional attention needs to be given to words with carets (when writing words in Slovenian), since some old studies may not use them. The result of the simple search is a list of studies that include the desired search word. Carefully go through the list of proposed studies and decide on the usefulness of individual studies for your purpose.

The list that we get in the simple search may be long and we could want to limit it. In this case, we use the option of Advanced Search.

 

Using Advanced Search, we can search for studies, variables or tables. We can also determine the search field (for example title, summary or question text).

We can search using different criteria. We can determine what to receive as a result or in which catalogue we want to search.

To access the window for Advanced search, click on the symbol for advanced search.

 

In the beginning, determine the criteria of the search. The default option is the Study Description.

 

By selecting the criteria Variable, the search will be conducted through all internal categories of the criteria Variable (text, category of answer, pretext etc.).

We can write one word or more (click the plus button) and choose the appropriate operator (AND, OR, NEGATION).

 

Searching for studies, variables or tables

Searching for studies

Advanced search can search for words in one or more fields. The following examples are fields that are available from the drop down menu in the 'Search criteria' box: Study Description, Abstract, Bibliographic Citation, Keywords, and Geographic coverage.

Searching for variables

Choose the 'Searching for variables' option to search fields within the 'Variable Description' section, e.g. Variable name, Question text. A list of studies containing variables that match your search criteria will then be displayed in the browse list. When the study is opened, the relevant variables will be displayed with an Open in context option. Select this to open the study in which the variable was found. A new window will then open, with the selected variable highlighted.

Selection of the catalogue

We can search through the Slovenian or the English catalogue or both simultanously. We determine in which catalogue we want to search in in the last field Where to search?.

We click the button Search.

If the 'Search for variables' option has been selected in the 'Return what?' section, a list of datasets that contain variables that fulfill your search criteria will be displayed in the browse list. Click on the button to open the dataset to view the list of variables.

 

Click on the variable name to view variable information in the right pane. Click on [Open in context] to open the dataset in a new window. The selected variable will be underlined. A new window will open for each selected variable allowing the user to view several datasets at the same time.