Converting Data
Note: data conversion is only available for datasets hosted in FAIR. Externally hosted data cannot be converted.
When a data validation report shows a type mismatch between the data dictionary and the underlying data, the data owner has two options:
- Update the dictionary field in question to match the type of the underlying data
- Update the underlying data to match the field type in the dictionary
This article details how the data owner can use the Convert function in FAIR to update the underlying data to match the dictionary in the event of a type mismatch.
Resolving a Mismatch in your Data
The data owner runs a validation report which produces an error:
In this case there is a type mismatch for the Participant ID field. The dictionary shows it as an integer and the data as text.
The data owner can update the underlying data to match the dictionary by selecting Convert from the tab at the top of the screen (this runs Convert on all dictionaries at once) or from the right-hand column of the dictionary table (this runs convert on the selected dictionary only):
A notification will appear in the top right of the screen when a conversion job starts and when it completes. The data owner does not have to remain on the data tab to receive these notifications.
When the conversion job is complete, the data owner can confirm it has succeeded by re-running the validation report. They can also view the history of data conversion tasks run on each dictionary in a dataset. This is accessible from the ellipses on the right of the dictionary table under View conversion reports:
