I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData? I don't mind the menus being in English because a translation of the menus into Vietnamese can be handed out to participants. What may be an issue is entering Vietnamese characters into the QES file and text fields. If Vietnamese characters are entered into the QES file, will they be displayed in the REC file? Also can field names contain Vietnamese characters or must these be English letters?
Also, what is the forecast for the release of EpiData Manager and EpiData EntryClient in the completed stage, i.e. with checks and GCP in place?
Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au http://www.mcri.edu.au/
Hi Suzanna,
We recently used epidata for a project in China. We had a few difficulties initially but it turned out to be due to not having the local computer configured correctly for Chinese characters (there seem to be different packages providing support for chinese in windows). Once we had that done epidata we were able to create QES and CHK files in chinese and store chinese text in the REC files.
It seems that programs like Word etc. render fonts themselves, so being able to write in non-English characters in Word or even notepad does not necessarily mean it will work straight away in epidata. But once the machine is configured correctly I think it should work. I haven't used windows for years, so I don't really know much about how it handles these things.
David --
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 04:58:05AM +0100, epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca wrote:
I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData? I don't mind the menus being in English because a translation of the menus into Vietnamese can be handed out to participants. What may be an issue is entering Vietnamese characters into the QES file and text fields. If Vietnamese characters are entered into the QES file, will they be displayed in the REC file? Also can field names contain Vietnamese characters or must these be English letters?
Also, what is the forecast for the release of EpiData Manager and EpiData EntryClient in the completed stage, i.e. with checks and GCP in place?
Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au http://www.mcri.edu.au/
David Whiting, PhD | Senior Epidemiology & Public Health Specialist tel +32-2-6437945 | mob +32-496-266436 | David.Whiting@idf.org
International Diabetes Federation 166 Chaussée de la Hulpe, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium tel +32-2-5385511 | fax +32-2-5385114 info@idf.org | www.idf.org | VAT BE 0433.674.528
IDF | Promoting diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide
_______________________________________________
EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
Thanks David for your response. Cheers,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au -----Original Message----- From: epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Sent: Monday, 17 January 2011 8:21 PM To: epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] EpiData in Vietnam
Hi Suzanna,
We recently used epidata for a project in China. We had a few difficulties initially but it turned out to be due to not having the local computer configured correctly for Chinese characters (there seem to be different packages providing support for chinese in windows). Once we had that done epidata we were able to create QES and CHK files in chinese and store chinese text in the REC files.
It seems that programs like Word etc. render fonts themselves, so being able to write in non-English characters in Word or even notepad does not necessarily mean it will work straight away in epidata. But once the machine is configured correctly I think it should work. I haven't used windows for years, so I don't really know much about how it handles these things.
David --
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 04:58:05AM +0100, epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca wrote:
I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData? I don't mind the menus being in English because a translation of the menus into Vietnamese can be handed out to participants. What may be an issue is entering Vietnamese characters into the QES file and text fields. If Vietnamese characters are entered into the QES file, will they be displayed in the REC file? Also can field names contain Vietnamese characters or must these be English letters?
Also, what is the forecast for the release of EpiData Manager and EpiData EntryClient in the completed stage, i.e. with checks and GCP in place?
Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au http://www.mcri.edu.au/
David Whiting, PhD | Senior Epidemiology & Public Health Specialist tel +32-2-6437945 | mob +32-496-266436 | David.Whiting@idf.org
International Diabetes Federation 166 Chaussée de la Hulpe, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium tel +32-2-5385511 | fax +32-2-5385114 info@idf.org | www.idf.org | VAT BE 0433.674.528
IDF | Promoting diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide
_______________________________________________
EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
_______________________________________________ EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
Dear Susan:
We conducted a 3-country study (Cambodia, China, Viet Nam) with the same data entry form. The Cambodians and Vietnamese used the English version, the Chinese translated the Field labels and the Value labels to Chinese (but not the field names and field values). For analysis all sub-sets were combined using the English Version as the driver for the Check file. No problems.
You may wish to contact my colleague Nguyen Binh Hoa (copied in this email), he is with the National Tuberculosis Program Viet Nam, is the coordinator of the above study, and has taken responsibility for data management of the Viet Nam tuberculosis survey (over 100,00 cases), all data captured with EpiData Entry. He is highly proficient in all things EpiData and knows how well and widespread its use is already in Viet Nam. I hope this helps a bit.
Regards,
Hans
On 20:59, epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca wrote:
I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData? I don't mind the menus being in English because a translation of the menus into Vietnamese can be handed out to participants. What may be an issue is entering Vietnamese characters into the QES file and text fields. If Vietnamese characters are entered into the QES file, will they be displayed in the REC file? Also can field names contain Vietnamese characters or must these be English letters?
Also, what is the forecast for the release of EpiData Manager and EpiData EntryClient in the completed stage, i.e. with checks and GCP in place?
Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar
Susan Widmar wrote: I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data
management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData?
I just wish to remind all that with the re-written software the whole issue of local languages is very simple: There should be no problem since all text field contents as questions (variable labels) can be written with the character set UTF-8.
As is shown with the sample file coming with the test versions of EntryClient and Manager the same file contains data in many different languages including Chinese, French, Spanish, English, Danish, Arabic (shown right to left) and more. Check yourself with the software available for test from http://www.epidata.dk/testing.php
Whether this comes in due time for your course I cannot know. The intended mode of work in the future will be that a given file/project can contain several languages. For a given variable the variable name is given only once for the project, but the question (variable label) and value labels will have (can have) translations and the user can change language during entry or definition.
Regarding the interface we will also accomplish translation: The interface for translation is not final, but will resemble the page you can see at: http://www.epidata.info/asger3/
Timetable for release depends on attaining stability and sufficient function. I have learned NOT to promise anything, but as I wrote earlier my own plan is to start using the new software for courses by the end of february.
Currently I am quite convinced that by the end of february we will have a functional level of aspects now in the test versions and also features for jumps, mustenter and a stable interface for the design in Linux and Windows - some problems will most likely still be present in the Mac version, which unfortunately will require finetuning later.
Regarding GCP functionality I expect this towards the end of first quarter or middle of second quarter if all goes well.
regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association
Thank-you Jens for your response. I'll look at the test versions of EntryClient and Manager when I get a chance later this week or next. Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au
-----Original Message----- From: epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Sent: Tuesday, 18 January 2011 9:24 AM To: epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] EpiData in Vietnam and other languages
Susan Widmar wrote: I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data
management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData?
I just wish to remind all that with the re-written software the whole issue of local languages is very simple: There should be no problem since all text field contents as questions (variable labels) can be written with the character set UTF-8.
As is shown with the sample file coming with the test versions of EntryClient and Manager the same file contains data in many different languages including Chinese, French, Spanish, English, Danish, Arabic (shown right to left) and more. Check yourself with the software available for test from http://www.epidata.dk/testing.php
Whether this comes in due time for your course I cannot know. The intended mode of work in the future will be that a given file/project can contain several languages. For a given variable the variable name is given only once for the project, but the question (variable label) and value labels will have (can have) translations and the user can change language during entry or definition.
Regarding the interface we will also accomplish translation: The interface for translation is not final, but will resemble the page you can see at: http://www.epidata.info/asger3/
Timetable for release depends on attaining stability and sufficient function. I have learned NOT to promise anything, but as I wrote earlier my own plan is to start using the new software for courses by the end of february.
Currently I am quite convinced that by the end of february we will have a functional level of aspects now in the test versions and also features for jumps, mustenter and a stable interface for the design in Linux and Windows - some problems will most likely still be present in the Mac version, which unfortunately will require finetuning later.
Regarding GCP functionality I expect this towards the end of first quarter or middle of second quarter if all goes well.
regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association
_______________________________________________ EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
Dear Jens,
I've had a look at the test version. I noticed one spelling error when creating value labels - you have "catagory" instead of "category". The ability to input non-English characters will be helpful for many throughout the world.
Even if you are able to stick to your timetable of end of February for a functional version of EpiData Manager, it'll be too late for me to write notes and have them translated by early March for the course in Hanoi. I think I'll have to teach EpiData Entry. Will EpiData Entry continue to be available even after EpiData Manager and Client are released in their complete form? If not, I'll reconsider teaching EpiData Entry.
Best wishes,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au -----Original Message----- From: epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Sent: Tuesday, 18 January 2011 9:24 AM To: epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] EpiData in Vietnam and other languages
Susan Widmar wrote: I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data
management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData?
I just wish to remind all that with the re-written software the whole issue of local languages is very simple: There should be no problem since all text field contents as questions (variable labels) can be written with the character set UTF-8.
As is shown with the sample file coming with the test versions of EntryClient and Manager the same file contains data in many different languages including Chinese, French, Spanish, English, Danish, Arabic (shown right to left) and more. Check yourself with the software available for test from http://www.epidata.dk/testing.php
Whether this comes in due time for your course I cannot know. The intended mode of work in the future will be that a given file/project can contain several languages. For a given variable the variable name is given only once for the project, but the question (variable label) and value labels will have (can have) translations and the user can change language during entry or definition.
Regarding the interface we will also accomplish translation: The interface for translation is not final, but will resemble the page you can see at: http://www.epidata.info/asger3/
Timetable for release depends on attaining stability and sufficient function. I have learned NOT to promise anything, but as I wrote earlier my own plan is to start using the new software for courses by the end of february.
Currently I am quite convinced that by the end of february we will have a functional level of aspects now in the test versions and also features for jumps, mustenter and a stable interface for the design in Linux and Windows - some problems will most likely still be present in the Mac version, which unfortunately will require finetuning later.
Regarding GCP functionality I expect this towards the end of first quarter or middle of second quarter if all goes well.
regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association
_______________________________________________ EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
Dear all
As pointed out by Suzanna Widmer (and others) the consideration of when a new softwareis sufficiently ready for courses and "real projects". Experience tell me to say "never use the first release of new or adapted software" - since regardless of a lot of testing it always turns out that only in real projects will one find the problems and bugs. Test situations are always less demanding than real projects. On the other hand I tend to be optimistic with EpiData software since with my 30 year experience in teaching data quality and field epidemiology I can find a workaround and also I can assure that we will fix the bug to next class. Most other instructors have less experience and cannot directly promise bug fixes. Another rationale is that instructors are experienced in the old software, but not in the new.
As part of the EpiData-Apheo project which adds financing to the current rewrite (see http://www.apheo.ca/index.php?pid=47) there will be a teaching seminar in february in Canada. For this the planning group decided to base the seminar on the existing software, but also to include a shorter presentation where I explain and show the new software. This is a relevant way of tackling the transition. Had the same seminar been held in april or may I would have suggested to do the other way around. That is to use the new software and then show the older one, since there might be aspects which are still not functional.
Here in the office at the hospital where I work we will start to use the new versions for smaller projects. But not do so before we have the next test release ready - which includes correct updating of idnum, autotime and autodate fields and jumps.
In seminars and courses the most important is a precise principle and sound scientifically based concepts - and functional software which supports the principles without giving participants and instructors headache's due to malfunction. Many participants in courses cannot separate problems associated with lack of understanding principles and lack of practical experience in using the software (or computers).
Excuses for the long explanation. I hope the considerations can assist in the decisions on what to do in the transition period. I am very happy to see that the download counts of test versions implicate wide spread consideration of "what is coming".
regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association
Thanks Jens. This is helpful information in deciding what to do with respect to teaching EpiData in March. There was one question in my earlier email that you didn't answer. Will EpiData Entry continue to be available for download after EpiData Manager and Entry Client have been released in their "complete" versions ? Best wishes,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au -----Original Message----- From: epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Sent: Friday, 21 January 2011 7:08 PM To: epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: RE: [EpiData-list] EpiData in Vietnam and other languages - when tochange a course to new versions ?
Dear all
As pointed out by Suzanna Widmer (and others) the consideration of when a new softwareis sufficiently ready for courses and "real projects". Experience tell me to say "never use the first release of new or adapted software" - since regardless of a lot of testing it always turns out that only in real projects will one find the problems and bugs. Test situations are always less demanding than real projects. On the other hand I tend to be optimistic with EpiData software since with my 30 year experience in teaching data quality and field epidemiology I can find a workaround and also I can assure that we will fix the bug to next class. Most other instructors have less experience and cannot directly promise bug fixes. Another rationale is that instructors are experienced in the old software, but not in the new.
As part of the EpiData-Apheo project which adds financing to the current rewrite (see http://www.apheo.ca/index.php?pid=47) there will be a teaching seminar in february in Canada. For this the planning group decided to base the seminar on the existing software, but also to include a shorter presentation where I explain and show the new software. This is a relevant way of tackling the transition. Had the same seminar been held in april or may I would have suggested to do the other way around. That is to use the new software and then show the older one, since there might be aspects which are still not functional.
Here in the office at the hospital where I work we will start to use the new versions for smaller projects. But not do so before we have the next test release ready - which includes correct updating of idnum, autotime and autodate fields and jumps.
In seminars and courses the most important is a precise principle and sound scientifically based concepts - and functional software which supports the principles without giving participants and instructors headache's due to malfunction. Many participants in courses cannot separate problems associated with lack of understanding principles and lack of practical experience in using the software (or computers).
Excuses for the long explanation. I hope the considerations can assist in the decisions on what to do in the transition period. I am very happy to see that the download counts of test versions implicate wide spread consideration of "what is coming".
regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association _______________________________________________ EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list
Thanks Hans for your response. Cheers,
Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar@mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au
-----Original Message----- From: epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:epidata-list-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca Sent: Tuesday, 18 January 2011 5:21 AM To: epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca; Chay, Sokun; Nguyen, Binh Hoa; Chen, Wei Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] EpiData in Vietnam
Dear Susan:
We conducted a 3-country study (Cambodia, China, Viet Nam) with the same
data entry form. The Cambodians and Vietnamese used the English version, the Chinese translated the Field labels and the Value labels to
Chinese (but not the field names and field values). For analysis all sub-sets were combined using the English Version as the driver for the Check file. No problems.
You may wish to contact my colleague Nguyen Binh Hoa (copied in this email), he is with the National Tuberculosis Program Viet Nam, is the coordinator of the above study, and has taken responsibility for data management of the Viet Nam tuberculosis survey (over 100,00 cases), all data captured with EpiData Entry. He is highly proficient in all things
EpiData and knows how well and widespread its use is already in Viet Nam. I hope this helps a bit.
Regards,
Hans
On 20:59, epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca wrote:
I'll be running a course in Vietnam on questionnaire design and data management. As part of the course I'm thinking of adding a session on EpiData. Can anyone answer the following question: How do people in non-English speaking countries manage with EpiData? I don't mind the menus being in English because a translation of the menus into Vietnamese can be handed out to participants. What may be an issue is entering Vietnamese characters into the QES file and text fields. If Vietnamese characters are entered into the QES file, will they be displayed in the REC file? Also can field names contain Vietnamese characters or must these be English letters?
Also, what is the forecast for the release of EpiData Manager and EpiData EntryClient in the completed stage, i.e. with checks and GCP
in
place?
Regards,
Suzanna Vidmar
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