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16. Data management and data analysis*
Data management: Strategies and issues in collecting, processing, documenting, and
summarizing data for an epidemiologic study.
1. Data Management
1.1 Introduction to Data Management
Data management falls under the rubric of project management. Most researchers are unprepared
for project management, since it tends to be underemphasized in training programs. An
epidemiologic project is not unlike running a business project with one crucial difference, the project
has a fixed life span. This difference will affect many aspects of its management. Some areas of
management that are affected are hiring, firing, evaluation, organization, productivity, morale,
communication, ethics, budget, and project termination. Although the production of a study
proposal raises many management challenges, if the proposal is approved and funds allocated, the
accomplishments of the project are dependent more upon its management than any other factor.
A particular problem for investigators and staff, if they lack specific training or experience, is to fail
to appreciate and prepare for the implications and exigencies of mass production.
1.2 The Data Management System
The data management system is the set of procedures and people through which information is
processed. It involves the collection, manipulation, storage, and retrieval of information. Perhaps
its most visible tool is the computer; however, this is merely one of many. Other "tools" are the
instruments and data collection forms, the data management protocol, quality control mechanisms,
documentation, storage facilities for both paper and electronic media, and mechanisms of retrieval.
The purpose of the data management system is to ensure: a) high quality data, i.e., to ensure that the
variability in the data derives from the phenomena under study and not from the data collection
process, and b) accurate, appropriate, and defensible analysis and interpretation of the data.
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* The original version of this chapter was written by H. Michael Arrighi, Ph.D.
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www.sph.unc.edu/EPID168/ © Victor J. Schoenbach 16. Data management and data analysis - 523
rev. 9/27/1999, 10/22/1999, 10/28/1999