Harmony is a software tool specifically designed for psychologists and social scientists. Its main purpose is to automate the process of questionnaire harmonisation, which is the task of matching similar items from different questionnaires.
Traditionally, harmonisation has been a time-consuming and subjective task. It involves going through long PDFs of questionnaires and manually inputting the questions into Excel or other software. This process can be tedious and prone to human error.
Harmony uses advanced natural language processing and generative AI models to help researchers harmonise questionnaire items, even if they are in different languages. This allows researchers to make full use of cohort and longitudinal studies by making comparisons both within and across studies.
By repeating the same longitudinal analysis across a number of studies, researchers can test the consistency of results or identify potential variations in response to changing social conditions.
With Harmony, researchers can easily compare instruments from its database, which includes commonly used questionnaires such as GAD-7 and PHQ-9. Additionally, users can also upload their own instruments in PDF form using Harmony’s web interface located at https://harmonydata.ac.uk/app.
One of Harmony’s key features is its ability to compare items in multiple languages. This is especially useful for researchers working on international projects with participants from different linguistic backgrounds.
Overall, Harmony is a valuable tool for data pooling and promoting data sharing among researchers. Its user-friendly interface and advanced AI capabilities make it a valuable asset for psychologists and social scientists seeking to simplify the harmonisation process and make the most out of their data.
