GDB 2nd Edition - Dataset Documentation

	A	B	C	D
1	Field	Description	Field (1st edition)	Change Notes (if changed)
2	iso3	standard ISO3 country code	iso3
3	country	The country name	country
4	pillar	Every indicator belongs to one Pillar. The Barometer 2nd edition is organized around three pillars or core areas of assessment—governance, capability, and availability.. For more details, please refer to the Research Handbook.	pillar
5	cluster	Every Indicator belongs to one cluster. Each cluster focuses on a specific aspect or theme within the broader context of data governance, availability and capabilities. Within each cluster, there are action areas, which contain one or more indicators. For more details, please refer to the Research Handbook.	module	Please note that the Second Edition restructures the indicators, and there is no straightforward linear mapping between clusters and modules
6	action area	Every indicator belongs to one action area. Each action area belongs to one cluster, and often uses one or more indicators from different pillars to trace intersections of governance, capability, and availability. For more details, please refer to the Research Hanbook.	module	Please note that the Second Edition restructures the indicators, and there is no straightforward linear mapping between clusters and modules
7	indicator_id	The indicator_id field identifies to which indicator belongs the data collected. To see a full list of indicators, please visite the Research Handbook or the tab "Indicator list" in this file. The id of an indicator is composed by the initial letter of the pilar that it belongs to (availability; capabilities; governance;), the cluster, and finally its short name).	indicator_id
8	indicator_name	The indicator's human-readable name	indicator_name
9	indicator_type	The Barometer has two types of indiators: Primary indicator, which is collected through an expert survey implemented by a global network of partners and researchers; and Secondary indicator, which is drawn from existing sources and a complementary government survey. In the 2nd edition, there are 27 primary indictors and 12 secondary indicators.	indicator_type
10	variable_name	The variable_name is a Barometer identifier pointing to a unique question (sub-question or supporting question) in the primary indicators. The identifier is structured as {PILLAR}.{MODULE}.{INDICATOR}.{SECTION}.{SUB-GROUP}.{SUB-QUESTION}.{SUPPORTING}. Please note: (1)Backward Compatibility with 1st Edition Despite replacing Module with Cluster and Action Area in the 2nd Edition, indicators retained from the 1st Edition preserve their original MODULE naming to ensure cross-edition comparability. (2) SECTION Values: Reduced to a (Existence) and e (Elements) after merging the former Extent section into Existence. - Existence Section Sub-Groups: No distinct SUB-GROUP identifiers are assigned to exist, extent, or summary under Existence during data collection. These components share the same variable name as their parent Existence section (e.g., {PILLAR}.{MODULE}.{INDICATOR}.a). (3) Recurring Sub-Question Naming Identical SUB-QUESTION names are reused across indicators for recurring questions (e.g., FREE for "The data is available free of charge"). Important: Within a single indicator, duplicate SUB-QUESTION names may appear under different sub-groups for sub-questions releated to a common theme/subject (4) SUPPORTING Parameter (New in 2nd Edition) A numeric value indicating the sequential position of the supporting question in the original survey design.	variable_name	refer to the description for details
11	question_type	The question_type field defines the type of content in the current row of the survey, directly aligned with the hierarchy_level: Main Question (Level 1): Contains the indicator’s main question text and its indicator score (0-100). Section (Level 2): Represents the title of an indicator’s section. There are two fixed sections: Existence (storing the Multiplier value) and Elements (storing the Element score). Sub-group (Level 3): Indicates the title of a sub-group within a section: - Existence includes three fixed sub-groups: exist, extent, and summary. - Elements contains a dynamic number of sub-groups (varies by indicator) assessing different dimensions of the element. Sub-question (Level 4): Contains the actual sub-question text, the researcher’s response, and its calculated score (derived from normalized_response × Weight). Supporting Question (Level 4): Includes auxiliary questions linked to a sub-question (e.g., follow-up prompts), with researcher responses but no calculated score (only raw response data).	N/A	This is a new field added into the 2nd edition data to help navigate and filter contents in the survey
12	question_text	The question_text contains relevent text information according to the question type. it could be main question text, or section title, or sub-group title, or sub-question text, or supporting question text.	question	The field name is updated to be paired with the question_type filed
13	hierarchy_level	Hierarchy Levels Explained: Level 0: Contains all high-level scores of the GDB 2nd Edition, including national scores, cluster scores, and action area scores. The indicator_type column distinguishes these three score types. Level 1: Represents data at the indicator level. Each indicator corresponds to an overall main question, with rows displaying its score (0-100). Note: The 2nd Edition removes justification and example fields from surveys; these are excluded at Level 1. However, summaries for Existence and Elements can be retrieved by filtering the data_type column for "summary" at Levels 3 and 4. Level 2: Breaks down indicators into their component sections: Existence (multiplier value) and Elements (element score). Level 3: Represents sub-groups within each section: - For Existence: Fixed sub-groups (exist, extent, and summary). - For Elements: Dynamic sub-groups assessing dimensions of the element. Sub-group rows display computed results (e.g., multiplier_exist for Existence, or weighted sums of element sub-questions). Level 4: Contains subquestions and supporting questions. Rows with data_type = "response" show the original survey response and the calculated score for a specific question.	hierarchy_level
14	data_type	The column contains 4 possible values: response (Level 4): Indicates the researcher’s direct answer to a sub-question. supporting (Level 4): Represents responses to auxiliary supporting questions (non-scoring follow-ups). computed (Level 0-3): Contains calculated results (e.g., element scores) or scoring-related variables. summary (Level 3 and 4) : Marks subgroup titles and summary entries for both Existence and Elements sections, including summary questions and their supporting prompts.	data_type	Value scheme is get updated: response: Narrowed to sub-questions only, retaining raw researcher inputs for granular scoring. computed: Replaces response for main questions and sub-group scores, which are derived from calculations (e.g., weighted sums, multipliers). summary: Introduced to tag all summary-related entries (sub-group titles, summary sub-questions, and summary supporting questions) for both Existence and Elements. This compensates for the removal of the justification field by enabling targeted filtering.
15	response	This field is the text information submited or the option selected by the researcher. Please be advised that the 2nd edition utilizes Survey Solution as the data collection tool, with a strict 750-character limit applied to all text-based response fields	response
16	response_value	This is the numeric value associated with the option selected by the researcher. In the 2nd editon, except the c	response_value
17	normalized_response_value	This is the normalized result of the response_value. It is within the [0,1] interval.	normalized_response_value
18	weight	This is the weight assigned to each sub-questions within an indicator	weight
19	score	The column contains the following computed values: Question Score (Level 4): Calculated as the product of a sub-question’s normalized_response and its assigned Weight. Sub-group Score (Level 3): - For Element sub-groups: Sum of all sub-question scores within the sub-group. - For Existence sub-groups: Derived from mapped Multiplier values based on responses to Exist (presence) and Extent (coverage) components. Element Score (Level 2): Capped at 100 points, calculated by aggregating all sub-group scores under the Element section. Existence Score (Level 2, Multiplier): Product of the Exist and Extent sub-group multipliers. A Normalization Rule ensures all multipliers for an indicator are linearly adjusted to the range [0.6, 1] if any country’s raw multiplier falls below 0.6 (see report Annex for methodology). Indicator Score (Level 1): It's the calculated indicator score for primary indicators or Secondary Indicators National Score, Cluster Score or Action Area Score (Level 0): it's the calculated nationa, cluster, or action area scores. Please note that the higher-level scores published in the dataset (e.g., country or indicator scores) may exhibit minor discrepancies compared to values recalculated by users using lower-level components (e.g., sub-question scores, Weights, or Multipliers). This is due to system-level rounding rules applied during aggregation, where final results are standardized to two decimal places.	score
20	parent	the parent node of the current row.	parent	note that in the 2nd edition data, the supporting question's parent now is pointed to the sub-question
21	question_order	The question_order is a numerical identifier assigned to each row of survey content to ensure proper sequencing of survey data. Note that a sub-question and its associated supporting question share the same question_order value, while the data_type field can be used to help sort these paired entries into their correct logical order.	question_order
22	wib	Indicator weight relative to the entire Barometer. Note that the Language indicator is not taken into account for national score calculation so it's wib is 0.	wib
23	wiaa	Indicator weight relative to the corresponding action area.	wip	in the 2nd edition, we no long have weight in pillar and it gets replaced
24	wic	Indicator weight relative to the corresponding cluster. Note that the Language indicator is not taken into account for cluster score calculation so it's wib is 0.	wim	in the 2nd edition, we no longer have weight in module and it gets replaced
25	regional_hub	The regional hub to which the country belongs to.	regional_hub
26	un_region	UN-defined region/subregion	un_region
27	barometer_region	Barometer-defined region/subregion	barometer_region
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