Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance José Aponte Public Health Advisor Best Practices and Other Tips July 2015 Epi Info™ 7 Software for Public Health EIS Summer Course

FORM DESIGNER Best Practices

 Keep field names short Create short field names that make sense, as the field names will be used later during analysis.

Best Practices  Limit the use of REQUIRED field property Record wont be saved until all required data is entered. Forces possible incorrect data to be entered

Best Practices  Use the RANGE field property For numeric and date fields only A simple way to check for out-of-range input

Tip: Checkboxes versus Yes/No fields  Checkboxes Must either be true or false Unchecked = false  Yes/No field Can be true, false, or blank x

Tip: Changing Field Names Field names cannot be changed once you’ve begun entering data, unless you go back and delete the form’s data table. DELETE WITH CAUTION!!!! Once you delete the data table, all the data you collected up to that point will be erased. To delete the data table: Open the form and select Tools > Delete Data Table from the menu. At that point you can change your field names.

Tip  Best variables for 2x2 tables Checkboxes Yes/No fields Fields that contain two possible values  Fields with more than two possible responses must be mapped for 2x2 analysis Map values to Yes or No

Best Practices  Incorporate Group Fields on your form Visually, presents fields in an organized manner Certain advantages when incorporating check code. Speeds up data analysis

Best Practices  Use field templates  Avoid re-creating the same set of fields over and over Minimize data entry errors Captures fields and any data entry rules incorporated

Best Practices  When creating forms, carefully consider how the data will be analyzed Optimize Dashboard gadgets Minimize data entry errors Minimize post-entry recoding/manipulation Consider intelligent/skip patterns/check codes carefully o “Go-To” is for advanced users Avoid restriction that may promote fake data/errors E.g., mandatory fields, complex skip patterns o “Don’t know” options may help

Best Practices  When intending to use Companion for Android or Web Survey to collect data:  Confirm that you can successfully publish the form navigate among the pages enter more test data reconfirm the validations and Check Code behavior is working properly. check the tab order  To ensure full functionality download the test data perform a sample analysis.  If an error is observed, make necessary corrections and repeat these steps until the survey functions as desired.

CHECK CODE Best Practices

 Use DISABLE command to implement skip patterns Disabling all fields in-between might work better than using GOTO command Use CLEAR command to set values to null

VISUAL DASHBOARD Best Practices

 Make good use of space  When recoding a variable to two values, use the Yes/No field type  Save canvas in the same folder as the data source  When saving the canvas, place it in a subfolder underneath Epi Info 7/Projects

OTHER Best Practices

Tip  Maps Distance may not be precise over large areas o Maps are geographic projections 5 mile radius 50 mile radius

Tip  Epi Info 7 creates 2 files for each project *.prj *.mdb (this is the data table)  Move both files at the same time or problems could occur

Tips  Do not manipulate the *.mdb Epi Info 7 table structure is different than earlier versions For example, each form page has its own *.mdb table Don’t use the prefix “meta” for any tables names Don’t name new tables a name similar to your form name

For more information please contact Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA Telephone: CDC-INFO ( )/TTY: Visit: | Contact CDC at: CDC-INFO or The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance Questions?