What is a Data Element?

Definition

A Data Element is the logical definition of a unit of data such as:

• a column in a database table 

• a field in a form 

• an element in an XML schema

Examples

• Date of birth

• Sex

• Blood type

How do data elements relate to other catalogue elements?

• Data elements can be found contained within data classes. For example, the data class Participant might include the data elements: first name, surname, participant ID, date of birth, sex, etc.

• Data Element values are constrained by Data Types. For example, the data element Date of birth may be associated with the data type xs:date, which only allows for the input of data in the YYYY-MM-DD format.

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