Work coding: beyond SIC and SOC, BOC and DOT.
Traditional coding schemes for occupational health related factors (eg, SIC, SOC, CAS) are structured similarly as hierarchical, exclusive, and exhaustive systems. Each is limited to information of one particular type (eg, industry) and, therefore, the relationships implicit in the coding scheme are limited. This study empirically determined that "natural" coding schemes used by occupational health professionals do not share these characteristics but are more akin to semantic network data bases. There is therefore a need to re-evaluate how occupational data are to be coded.
Harber
P
P
Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1690.
Miller
G
G
Smitherman
J
J
D016208:Databases, Factual; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D016272:Occupational Health