Illustrating the Process using CS-Pro - University of Reading

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IntroductionIn the booklet entitled “Role of a Database Package for Research Projects”, 1 weconsidered the strengths and weaknesses of using spreadsheets, such as MS-Excel ®and database packages such as MS-Access ® for data entry. We concluded that, whenused “with discipline”, spreadsheets are adequate when your data has a simplestructure – i.e. one or maybe two levels only. We defined “with discipline” in ourguide called “Disciplined Use of Spreadsheet Packages for Data Entry”.Spreadsheets are easy to use and very popular, but for complex data structures theyare best avoided.Database packages are, in many ways, ideal for complex data structures with severallevels. The ability to design data entry screens that resemble the questionnaire is aparticular strength, as is the ability to program automatic skips matching skips in thequestionnaire. One serious disadvantage, however, is that designing andimplementing a database is not a trivial task and there is a very steep learning curveinvolved.Fortunately there is a third option – packages such as CS-Pro, which is used in thisguide to illustrate how the application of rigour and discipline can help in setting up agood data entry system for capture of data entry errors and validation.1 The Statistical Services Centre has written a series of guidelines for DFID. The booklets are available onlineat www.reading.ac.uk/ssc4 ©SSC 2009 – Illustrating the Process using CS-Pro
1. What is CS-Pro?CS-Pro (Census and Survey Processing System) is a package for entry, editing,tabulation and dissemination of census and survey data. CS-Pro was developedjointly by the U.S. Census Bureau, Macro International and Serpro S.A., with majorfunding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. This software can bedownloaded from http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/cspro/ and is available free ofcharge.CS-Pro includes a data entry application, a batch editing application and a tabulationapplication. Within the data entry application there are facilities for defining thestructure of your data (the data dictionary), and creating data entry forms. During thedata entry process itself there is the facility to verify data by retyping values andcomparing them to the values previously entered. There is also the facility tocompare two data files created during double data entry, and produce a report on thediscrepancies found.With the tabulation application you can produce cross-tabulations and frequencytables which are useful for exploratory data analysis and error checking. Forinformation on the tabulation application refer to the CS-Pro user guide available fromhttp://www.census.gov/ipc/www/cspro/doc.html. When you need to transfer to astatistics package to analyse your data further, CS-Pro provides a useful Exportfeature that transfers the data to formats readable by Excel and a variety of statisticalpackages. If requested this feature will generate syntax files for STATA, SPSS andSAS that contain the instructions for reading the data and for labelling the variables.2. Data Dictionary (Defining the Structure of your Data)Before you can start to enter data using CS-Pro, you must create a Data EntryApplication. A Data Entry Application contains a set of forms (screens) and logic(code) which a data entry clerk uses to key data to a data file. Data EntryApplications can be used to add new data and to modify existing data.Before creating your data entry forms you must create a Data Dictionary. A DataDictionary is part of the Data Entry Application that describes the structure of yourdata and how the data are stored within the data file.By way of example we will use the same questionnaire that we used in theaccompanying guide Part I – Elements of a Good Data Entry System. Thequestionnaire is shown in Figure 1.©SSC 2009 – Illustrating the Process using CS-Pro 5
Page 6 and 7: Figure 1 - Adapted questionnaire fr
Page 8: later on, this is not something dat
Page 12 and 13: Figure 10 - Default Forms generated
Page 15: move to the next data item if the c
Page 18: have been set up for the items skip

Illustrating the Process using CS-Pro - University of Reading

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