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Basic Features of DISI 2.1
After starting the programme the start up screen that is shown below will
appear. On this screen the user can make a choice between running the German or
the English language version of DISI 2.1. By using the 'flag' icon (the upper icon on the right hand side of the
screen) it is always possible to return to the
start up screen and to change the working language.
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Accessing the Data by Using the Register
The registers are available directly after starting DISI 2.1. They offer direct access to the data
of the 14 life domains included in the
database. In this
context finding time series data covering a particular topic is made easy by the subdivision of these life domains into several goal- and measurement
dimensions. Moreover there are several other options available to the user, besides accessing data via the
registers. These options are shown in the following illustration.
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Exploring the data using the registers is quite easy in fact. After selecting any of the life
domains, for example health (as shown below) the user can utilise
the goal- ('State of Health', 'Health Care Coverage' and 'Living Conditions that Affect
Health') and measurement dimensions (e.g. for 'State of Health' these
are 'Life Expectancy', 'Causes of Death', 'Indicators of General Health' and 'Subjective Satisfaction with Personal
Health') in order to find a specific
indicator (e.g. Life Expectancy at Birth). After accessing a specific indicator the mouse can be used in order to select time series for the different regions and
breakdowns of the indicator and move them into the set-window at the lower right corner of the
screen.
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The selected time series might be presented either as a histogram or in tabular form. Moreover the user has several other options. Among those are for
example to use the zoom-mode, in order to focus on a particular period of time, to label important points in time by using a marker or to switch the
diagram's grid on or off. A short overview of available features is shown in the following
illustration.
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Accessing the Data Using the Query-Function
An alternative way to access the data is by means of the query function. In doing so the user might seek for single or connected terms. He or she can either
search in indicators, definitions, breakdowns or data-sources exclusively or in all of them at once. Moreover it is possible to restrict the query to one or more
specific life-domains.
The following chart illustrates a query for indicators containing the term 'Work' or the term 'Income'. The query has been restricted to those Life-Domains
appearing dark yellow in the figure below. It is possible to access the indicators contained in the results list directly from the query function (i.e. without
using the registers).
Please note that the query lists all indicators containing a specific word, either as such or as part of a combined term. However, it will not find related words
that do not include the particular sequence of letters making up the search term. Thus running a query for ‘workforce’, you would not find indicators
including the word ‘worker’ (and vice versa). Therefore we would recommend to use rather simple words or roots of words as search terms (in the above
example e.g. ‘work‘ would be a good choice) in order to get comprehensive results.
The tables and histograms generated with the time series data (received
in either of the two ways to access the data described) might be printed, transferred to other
applications by using the clipboard or saved in .jpg/.htm (charts) or ASCII-text (tables) -format.
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The Help-File
The two ways to retrieve the time series data described above are outlined in more detail in the DISI
2.1 help-file. This file also
provides information on
additional features of the program. The help-file can be activated by clicking on the '?'-icon located on the lower right margin of the screen. You might
access help-file entries either via the index or by using the table of contents.
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General Remarks
DISI 2.1 allows to combine two or more time series in one diagram. These time series might be derived from a single indicator (i.e. it
are time series for different parts of the country or different breakdowns of this indicator) or from different indicators. In this context it should be noted that
combining time series from different indicators might constitute a problem, since for technical reasons it is not possible to adjust the scales of the bars
representing the data. Therefore two bars that appear to be of equal length might in fact represent quite distinct quantities (even if both are expressed in the
same unit). You can check whether this problem occurs in your current diagram by activating the time series included in the set-window. While
activating
each time series, the corresponding scale is shown in the graph. Should the scales for the different time series diverge, the problem is present in the current
set.
This problem does not occur if different time series belonging to one indicator are combined, since in this case the variation of scales is adjusted for.
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© GESIS Heinz-Herbert
Noll 11/12/07
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