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An introduction to the General Temporal Data Model and the Structured Population Event History Register (SPEHR)
Samuel J. Clark
Department of Sociology, University of Washington, samclark{at}u.washington.edu, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS), University of Colorado at Boulder
There are some 37 demographic surveillance system sites active in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Central America. These sites, and other longitudinal population and health research projects, generate data over time in order to describe and explain the event histories of individuals and the populations they constitute. This note addresses key data management challenges presented by such complex temporal data-gathering efforts. Ideas supporting a standard definition for temporal population data, and a standard design for temporal databases to improve management of longitudinal population data, are presented and briefly discussed.
Key Words: Longitudinal • data • GTDM • SPEHR • relational database • temporal data • data model
References
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- Clark SJ, SPEHR: The Structured Population Event History Register. 2007. Available at: http://www.samclark.net/spehr/ (accessed May 5 2007).
- Clark SJ A General Temporal Data Model and the Structured Population Event History Register. Demographic Research 2006;15(7):181—252. Available at: http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol15/7/default.htm.[Web of Science]
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 35, No. 69 suppl,
21-25 (2007)
DOI: 10.1080/14034950701355452
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