OCR CAMBRIDGE NATIONALS UNIT 1 - UNDERSTANDING COMPUTER SYSTEMS DATA CAPTURE METHODS

LESSON OVERVIEW In this lesson you will learn about the various methods of capturing data.

INTRODUCTION Data capture just means to get data from someone and store it electronically. There are lots of ways to do this, both manually and automatically using technology.

DATA CAPTURE METHODS Paper Based Online control system sensors barcode readers Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) Near Field Communic ation (NFC)

FORMS Data can be ‘captured’ electronically or on paper. This will depend on lots of different things. All information is collected for a reason. What is different about paper vs electronic forms?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT…. Paper Based Enough space to write. E.g. Name: _____________ Can you use options. [ ] Option 1 [ ] Option 2 [ ] Other: ____________ Clear instructions. Details of what to do with the form when complete. Electronic Single line Paragraph text

ONLINE FORMS They have many useful features to help the customer fill in the form: User form feature What it looks likePurpose of feature ButtonA user can click on this to submit the information that has been added. Radio Button User can click and select 1 option of the group Text FieldThe user can type directly into this to add free text Drop down list User can select from a list of choices – stops wrong answers being put in Check boxUser can select multiple options from this group of choices Enter your name:

DATA CAPTURE METHODS ADVANTAGES \ DISADVANTAGES Online forms = Simple, easy to use forms where spelling can be checked as the user types in their data. Further advice and guidance can be given to the person filling in the form. Paper based forms = Also and simple to fill in, if spelling mistakes are made new forms have to be issued. Easily damaged and not very secure compared to online forms.

CODING DATA Once you have got the completed DCF. It needs to be typed up into either a Spreadsheet of a database. To save space the data can be coded. Examples of this: Y or N instead of Yes or No M or F instead of Male or Female instead of 12 September 1930 Can you think of other examples? Hint: Think about questions on forms/surveys

DATA VERIFICATION/VALIDATION Any data that is stored in a spreadsheet/database and used to retrieve useful information must be accurate. There are two methods of ensuring data is accurate: verification and validation. Neither methods makes the data 100% correct, it helps to ensure that it is in the right format and type of information needed.

DATA VERIFICATION What does it mean? Verification checks that data is entered exactly as it is shown on the original data capture sheet. This ensures that the original answers to questions are entered into the spreadsheet/database. Example of data verification Online forms usually ask for a /password to be entered twice to do a check against both entries.

DATA VALIDATION What does it mean? Validation checks data as it is entered for either of the following: PresenceA check to see if data has been entered Data typeData is the correct type e.g numbers for a telephone number FormatData is in the correct format, e.g. DD/MM/YYYY RangeData is in the correct limits, e.g. Birthdate CharacterData has the correct characters, e.g. no # in the postcode Example of data validation Facebook asks you for a birthdate and then does a Range Check to see if you are old enough to use it.

STORING & ANALYSING THE CUSTOMER FEEDBACK USING DATABASES Features of database software: Store thousands-millions of Cable Ties customers details Easy to add new customers \ edit or delete customers You can search for specific information quickly (e.g. Jackie can find all of the customers who said they weren’t satisfied with the job the engineer did etc) You can sort all the records into any order you like (alphabetically, numerically) You can store database easily on a pen drive – making it easy to transport around. If data is lost its easy to get back as long as regular backups are made.