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Hi Chris,
A shared EpiData file on a network will not work reliably. You would have to add a locking mechanism to make sure two people were not using the database at the same time.
However, having everyone who does data entry use their own files is something that has been done many times. You only have to be sure to append new records, or have your staff start a new file when they send you their data.
As you have no doubt read, EpiData allows you to exercise control over the data being entered, unlike the free for all that spreadsheets typically allow.
.rec files were used in what we now call Classic EpiData. We are encouraging people to use the current version of EpiData, which is accessible at epidata.dk.
The analysis program in either version of EpiData can easily give you summaries of data, without having to move data to R. The programming of Analysis is pretty straightforward and the analysis functions were designed by and for epidemiologists.
For many people (like me) one draw of EpiData is that the current versions run on Windows, Mac and Linux, using the same project files.
Jamie
Hello. I'm contemplating Epidata as a tool for an ongoing project of operational data entry (monthly volumes/census of different types of clinic visits at a facility) in which several different staff members would be entering the data relevant to their section of the clinic (TB, STD, etc.) The facility does not have an electronic medical record, or any other platform from which these data could be extracted in automated fashion. Currently each staff member is typing numbers into a massive shared spreadsheet on their networK (ugh!).
If I set up a single, shared, Epidata .rec file in that same network location, could several staff members be editing it (adding records) simultaneously? It would be rare by sheer chance, but it could happen. No two staffers would ever be editing the same existing record.
Alternatively, if each staffer had their own .rec file pertaining to their activities, I suppose I could, each month, APPEND them into my "working" total file, from which I would derive my summaries (probably by exporting and running some R code)?
Advice and suggestions welcome.
Thanks.
--Chris Ryan