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Data Catalogue

Concept help - Conceptual Domain

A Conceptual Domain describes a set of ideas that can be recorded using codes when storing data. When linked to multiple Value Domains, a Conceptual Domain can be used to find similarities in different code sets.

A conceptual domain may be associated with either a data element concept or a value domain. A conceptual domain is not a mandatory association, and there may be a one-to-many relationship between a data element concept and a conceptual domain, or a value domain and a conceptual domain.

Countries of the world can be expressed as a conceptual domain. The concept of countries can be measured by both enumerated and non-enumerated value domains. An enumerated value domain may reference the Australian Standard Classification of Countries (2011) and provide a four digit code (i.e. NNNN). A non-enumerated value domain may still reference the same classification, but collect country names using a textual field instead (i.e Text X[X(99)]. Both the enumerated and non-enumerated value domains could be associated with the conceptual domain for countries. The conceptual domain might also be associated with several data element concepts which incorporate country as a central theme, such as Personcountry of birth, Personcountry of residence, or Personcountry of citizenship.

ISO/IEC 11179-3 Section 11.3.2.1

Conceptual_Domain is a class, each instance of which models a conceptual domain (3.2.21), a set of value meanings (3.2.141) which may either be enumerated or expressed via a description. Conceptual_Domain is an abstract class, which has two possible subclasses: Enumerated_Conceptual_Domain (11.3.2.2) and Described Conceptual_Domain (11.3.2.4). Every Conceptual_Domain instance must be either an Enumerated_Conceptual_Domain or a Described Conceptual_Domain or a combination of the two.

Fields available on this metadata type

Field ISO definition
Name The primary name used for human identification purposes.
Definition Representation of a concept by a descriptive statement which serves to differentiate it from related concepts. (3.2.39)
Is Federated
Is Not Federable
Version Unique version identifier of this metadata item.
References Significant documents that contributed to the development of the metadata item which were not the direct source for the metadata content.
Origin The source (e.g. document, project, discipline or model) for the item (8.1.2.2.3.5)
Comments Descriptive comments about the metadata item (8.1.2.2.3.4)
Deleted The date after which the item has been soft deleted and is no longer visible in the registry
Description Description or specification of a rule, reference, or range for a set of all value meanings for a Conceptual Domain

Official Definition

A concept that expresses its description or valid instance meanings ISO/IEC 11179 - Clause 3.2.21