Why a course with EpiData software?
Hans L Rieder
o
Requirement of data quality
o
5S principle (Eric Brenner, FoED):
Small; Simple; Stable; Speedy; Sufficient
o
Freeware
o
What is this course about?
How can you know that the data entered into the spreadsheet are correct?
Spreadsheets are for calculations, they are not data entry forms!
Windows!!
QES–REC-CHK !!
sample1.qes: 73 bytes
sample1.rec: 292 bytes
Total:
365 bytes
sample3.qes: 88 bytes
sample3.rec: 337 bytes
Total:
425 bytes
sample2.mdb: 88064 bytes
Total:
88064 bytes
The “Epi Info Family”
Epi Info 6
Epi Info 7
EpiData
File 1
1.30 MB File 1 13.7 MB
File 1
967 KB
File 2
1.29 MB
-
File 2
1.87 MB
File 3
1.30 MB
-
Total
3.89 MB Total 13.7 MB
Total
2.84 MB
EpiData software is simple
QES file
REC file
CHK file
All files are simple straight text (ASCII) files!
EpiData software is stable
o
It will rarely crash (only when the
operating system is jeopardized)
o
If it crashes, you will only loose the one
record on which you are currently working
EpiData software is speedy
o
Almost as fast as Epi Info 6
o
Twice as fast as Epi Info 2 K
EpiData software is sufficient
o
Data quality: assurance through CHK files
and double-entry validation
o
Documentation: document every step in
data entry and analysis
o
Safety: Rijndal (AE) encryption
EpiData software is freely available at:
www.epidata.dk
EpiData Entry (967 KB)
EpiData Analysis (1.87 MB)
What is this course about?
To demonstrate how data quality can be assured:
o
By using checks to control data entry
o
By working together
o
By validating content through double entry
and comparison
Double-entry and validation is possible with a spreadsheet, but…
=IF(B4=F4,"","Discordant")
…the spreadsheet does it variable by variable,
EpiData efficiently only by discordant record