Data Dictionary Blank Template

This is a blank data dictionary template intended to assist researchers with documenting the variables, structure, content, and layout of their datasets. A good data dictionary has enough information about each variable for it to be self explanatory and interpreted properly by someone outside of the original research group. There are two different file types for the data dictionary avaliable, a Excel file (.xslx) and a .csv file. The Excel file has both the template and the field descriptions on different sheets, while the .csv template and field descriptions are seperated into two csv's. This is because csv's do no allow for multiple sheets in one file. The template section provides you with commonly required columns that are necessary to fully define your data. The field descriptions section is where you define the column headers and possible values that can be entered. There is an example in the first row that can be deleted for you to enter in your own data. This template is build off of the Ag Data Commons "Data Dictionary - Blank Template" from the United States Department of Agriculture (https://data.nal.usda.gov/data-dictionary-blank-template) [no longer accessible online as of 2023-12-18].