Dimension
This page describes common and important dimensions in open assessments. For a description about the essence of dimensions and their operationalisations (indices), see Index.
Scope
To increase the usability of objects in open assessment, it is advisable to use uniform structures whenever possible. Also dimensions (and indices) should be uniform from one assessment to another as much as is practically possible. This page offers generally applicable dimensions.
What are dimensions that are
- important for fulfilling assessments,
- needed often in different kinds of assessments,
- general in nature so that they are applicable to a large number of assessment?
Definition
Result
- Time: real time described as a year, date, and time.
- Reference time: time since (or before) a particular event in real time. The reference point must be defined in the context where reference time is used. Note that if the reference points of two reference times are different, the dimensions are different as well, but if the reference points are the same, the dimensions are just one dimension.
- Age: Age is a particular reference time dimension, where the reference event is the birth of the individual under examination.
- Sample: A discrete dimension for a random sample of values drawn from a probability distribution. It is a sequence of integers 1, 2, 3,...n, where n is the sample size. Within one model, all variable results for each location in sample must be coherent. In the result database, this dimension is described within the Result table, not in Location table as all others.
- Longitude: The distance in degrees from the Prime meridian.
- Latitude: The distance in degrees from the equator.
- Sex: A discrete dimension describing the biological sex of an individual. Possible values: male, female.
- ICD-10: An international classification of diseases. This is a discrete dimension, and the individual locations are hierarchically structured. In principle, the classification is exhaustive and covers all possible diseases at some level of precision.
- Country: A discrete dimension for geographical location. Country is based on the administrative boundaries of independent countries. For a complete list, see List of countries.