- EpiData-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

date field: check fails
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 07 Aug '09

07 Aug '09

Dear all, I'm just starting to use epidata entry so I have probably overlooked something. Any pointers are appreciated! I defined a date field as follows in the .qes file: DOB date of birth <dd/mm/yyyy> in the .rec file I added the following sanity check: DOB MUSTENTER AFTER ENTRY IF ((year(DOB) < 1900) OR (DOB > TODAY)) THEN HELP "This date is not allowed" TYPE=ERROR CLEAR DOB GOTO DOB ENDIF END END Most of the time the field behaves as I expect it to: dates in the future or far in the past are not allowed. However, the following typo gets accepted without triggering an error: 05/08/20001. Adding an extra trailing zero (05/08/200010) results in a prompt conversion to 05/08/3402, and the sanity check works again. Some experimentation seems to confirm that values between 20000 and 20099 are accepted as valid for year, bigger values trigger either my check or are converted to some weird value, again triggering the check. How can I prevent this from happening? thanks in advance, Peter version info: epidata v3.1 (270108), on windows XP.

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Limit on number of .rec files that can be RELATEd
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

Dear EpiData users, It appears as if there is a limit of 30 .rec files that can be linked together in a relational structure for data entry using the RELATE command. Am I mistaken or is there any work around for this? I have 29 files linked to a single "master" file and I need to be able to relate 2 more files to this first file for data entry to work well. Thank you in advance, Emilie

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Re: Negative integer
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 15 Jul '09

15 Jul '09

Thak you guys, setting the field to ## worked fine! Best regards, Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Brasil

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negative integers in epidata entry
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 15 Jul '09

15 Jul '09

Dear EpiData friends, I have a qes like this days NUMBER OF DAYS WITHOUT MEDICINE IN THE PERIOD ## However the ones who filled the CRFs filled this with -1 if there was no information about this question. Now Im testin the entrys to start feeding the datasets and just realize that -1 is not a legal integer for field # I thought that converting this field from # to <A > would work and later in the analysis to encode this variable to integer. WOuld this work? any more elegant workaround? Best regards, Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

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creating an identifiant from various variables + double data entry
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

Dear Jens, Thanks for your helpful comment on creating an identifiant from various variables and double data entry (see below). I just wanted to clarify a few things: 1) Does this mean that when using the 'Double Entry Verification' option (immediate comparison), this will not work if you have added any new variables into the .rec, or changed the order of the variables from the existing .rec? 2) If you use the other method of data verification (entering data into two seperate files and then validating duplicate files afterwards), is it possible to compare the old and new .rec files, even if a new variable has been added, or the order of the variables has been changed? Will using the 'validate duplicate files' option work if the new .rec file has the variables in a different order? Thanks so much for all your help, Nicki Bailey One aspect of this about unique identifiers is when users want to do double entry. The only double entry option in this situation is to enter the data twice and then compare afterwards, since the "immediate comparison" double entry mode is not available for combined field unique entries unless the records are entered in EXACTLY the same sequence as the first time. The problem for the user is, that the system is NOT giving correct warnings in the immediate double entry if the unique index is created in contrast to entered directly. > I would like the identifier to be automatically created in the .rec > file after entering 4 variables and as an aggregation of these 4 > variables. > For instance my identifier is > ID=region number+village number+household number+member in the > household number regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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Is it possible to link the follow-up to the baseline using EpiData?
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Dear all, I have a question about linking the follow-up round of a survey to the baseline which was data entered using EpiData. The follow-up is a new database that will be linked to the baseline during analysis. During data entry, I want to make sure that the IDs entered in the follow-up match those from the baseline in the household roster of the survey. No member that was in the household in the baseline should be missing, however new members can be added to the household. I have villageid, householdid, and personid, each of which is entered separately. I can then create a unique id which combines these to ID the unique individual. The baseline data was entered using double data entry where the data was compared dynamically (Menu Option: "Double Entry verification") and the follow-up will be done in the same manner. The survey is large and the data are entered on several different computers that are not networked. The only way I can think of to link the follow-up to the baseline in order to compare the IDs would be to do a mini double data entry after the first data entry of the household roster where I check only the IDs for the data and see what is in the follow-up that isn't in the baseline, but this seems like a poor solution. I would prefer to do something dynamic, which 1) doesn't allow the data entry clerk to move on to another household until they have entered all of the IDs from the baseline and 2) flashes a warning if there is an ID entered that does not match with the baseline. I don't think that EpiData has these capabilities. Please let me know if I am simply not educated enough in this software. Thank you for your help (and I apologize for this long posting). Emilie

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Changed principles for passwords
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 29 Jun '09

29 Jun '09

Dear All Due to several requests the list will from now on send password reminders from time to time. You can go into the list specification and turn this on (after you receive the first reminder). It would be constructive for the development of the Core module if users could find some time to challenge the core-module-test application in Linux or Windows. See www.epidata.dk/testing.php Report success and/or failures to the list. regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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Re: EpiData-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 5
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 28 Jun '09

28 Jun '09

Jose, Well, I would say that You could use a softaware such as stattransfer which would solve this problem. If you dotnt have it, I would recomend any other statistical software is usually able to do so. I usually work with stata or R. With stata you may save he spreadsheet as csv or tb separeted and import within stata and save in stata format. With R is even more simple because thereis some packages that are able to import directly from xls and then save it in stata format or dbf format. Usually stata format is the most friendly for epidata entry. If you dont have any experience with R, perhaps you will find easier to use a grphical interface such as Rcmdr or pmg. To install the Rcmdr and use R with a graphical interface, after installing it type "install.packeges("Rcmdr")" and afer the install type "library("Rcmdr")" The rest should be more intuitive! Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

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Excel 2007
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 28 Jun '09

28 Jun '09

Dear member in the group is there any way to export data from Excel 2007 that can be read with Epidata. I have found the excel 2007 does not export to dbf format. I will appreciate any help. Jose Arturo Dr. Jose Arturo Farfan Ale Centro de Investigaciones Regionales "Dr. Hideyo Noguchi" Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán Av. Itzáes por 59, num. 490 Mérida, Yucatán, México 97000 Tel: (999) 923-22-74 (999) 924-57-55 Fax: (999) 923-61-20

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EpiData Core Module - update
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 17 Jun '09

17 Jun '09

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