Fw: Re: Data entry

[kim.barchard]

Dear Matthew,

Yes, you are correct.  You can do all of those things in Excel.  The one
advantage of Excel over Access, I think, is that it is already on most
computers, and more people (including more undergraduates) have already had
some experience with it.  But people who do use Access are uniformly
positive about it.

For each measure, I would recommend that you set up a second set of
questions right after the first set, and ask your research assistants to
enter the data a second time.  Then check that the entries agree (either in
Access or SPSS).  This will catch and eliminate most errors.

Best regards,

Kim

Message from Pirritano, Matthew [hidden email]


I've found Access to be the way to go.

I create Forms in which data can be entered for each of my measures. I
create allowable values for each Form so that out of range values CANNOT
even be entered. A little dialog box pops up saying 'invalid entry.'
Having a Form that contains all of the questions for just one
questionnaire arranged on one page makes data entry go quite quickly.

The data from all of the Forms are linked via participant ID numbers.
The data is then stored in spreadsheets that include all info and can be
very easily transported into SPSS.

Before research assistants enter data they go through the measure and
total up the responses and write that total number on the actual
questionnaire. Then after they have entered their data and double
checked each entry they hit a button in the Form that totals up what
they have entered as a double check to be sure that what they have
entered agrees with the total that they had already calculated.

The double check of the totals takes a little more time. But added to
the preprogrammed acceptable values it drastically reduces data entry
errors. Of course, within range errors can still occur if data entry
folks are not careful but there's only so much that you can do.

Also, perhaps the greatest advantage of this system is that you can have
multiple people entering data into the same database simultaneously to
speed things along. I believe that you can also do all of these things
in excel but I still think Access is best.

I worked on a 3 year longitudinal grant with some folks that had been
professional financial data entry operators and they provided a lot of
the design of this method. Apparently financial institutions are
extremely averse to data entry errors. Go figure.

My two cents.

Matthew Pirritano, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Smith Hall 116C
Chapman University
Department of Psychology
One University Drive
Orange, CA 92866
Telephone [phone]
FAX [phone]

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
[hidden email]
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:26 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Data entry

Hi Claire,

I use Excel because it makes it so much easier to check that I have
entered
the data correctly.  I have my research assistants enter the data twice,
and then Excel compares them.  If the two series of entries are
identical
and no values are outside the allowable range for those items, then the
data is probably correct.   Once the two sets of entries agree for all
participants, then it is easy to copy and paste the data into SPSS for
analysis.

The basic idea of typing the data twice and making sure that the two
sets
of entries agree can be easily implemented in any spreadsheet program
and
in any operating system, and setting up the system from scratch is
pretty
easy, once you have the basic idea.

To make it even easier, I have an Excel template that I give to graduate
students, so they can set up data entry spreadsheets for their own
studies.
I'll send a copy of the template to your personal email address.  If
anyone
else wants a copy of it, just email me directly. I can also send you a
conference presentation in which I talk about this template.

Best regards,

Kim


Message from [hidden email]

Hi all,
I was wondering what folks prefer to use for data entry.  Excel?
Access? Does SPSS have a data entry package? I don't like using Excel
because of the ease of making errors and I am on a Mac which doesn't
support Access, though I have access to Access. What do y'all do?
Thanks,
Claire