Metadata

Definition: Structured data that describes and synthesises other data. Metadata can help find, organize, and understand data. Examples of metadata include creator, title, contributors, keywords, tags, as well as any kind of information necessary to verify and understand the results and conclusions of a study such as codebook on data labels, descriptions, the sample and data collection process.

Alternative definition: Data about data

Related terms: Data, Open Data

References: Gollwitzer et al. (2020), & https://schema.datacite.org/

Drafted and Reviewed by: Matt Jaquiery, Helena Hartmann, Tina Lonsdorf, Charlotte R. Pennington, Mirela Zaneva

Note that we are currently working on an automated mechanism to link references cited above with their full-length version that can be found at https://forrt.org/glossary/references with all references used so far.