1. Data Capture Methods

2. In this topic, we will be looking at: Methods of data capture When it would be appropriate to use each method Advantages and disadvantages of each The concept of encoding

3. Manual Input Methods that register movements of the hand include: mouse keyboard tracker ball graphics tablet touch-screen – e.g. PDA

4. Advantages and Disadvantages there shouldn’t be much of a need for training, as most people are already familiar with the concept ICT systems can be similar to manual ones – no need for specialised data collection sheets It can be slow to enter data Transcription (data entry) errors can occur Handwriting recognition can be unreliable

5. Methods that read data optically include: Optical Mark Readers (OMR) Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Punched cards, paper tape and Kimball tags Barcodes Optical Methods

6. Advantages and Disadvantages Large amounts of data can be read quickly Data can be read without human intervention Easy for staff to use Kimball tags or barcodes – no specialist knowledge needed Specialist equipment is needed to prepare the data for entry – e.g. tags or forms Only good for a limited range of data – closed questions Medium is often paper – easily damaged (not including optical character recognition)

7. Text is scanned then converted into real, editable text Optical Character Recognition

8. Advantages and Disadvantages No special data- preparation equipment required – it just uses text on ordinary paper Data is easily read by humans as well as the computer Recognition is not 100% accurate Converted documents will need to be checked Dirty or damaged documents are difficult to read

9. Voice recognition can be used for: Controlling devices (small vocabulary systems) Dictation (large vocabulary systems) Small vocabulary systems are usually more reliable and may not need training Voice Recognition

10. Advantages and Disadvantages No special data- preparation equipment required – you just say the data Data is easily understood by humans as well as the computer Little training is required Recognition is not 100% accurate Dictation systems need to be trained Not everything – e.g. mathematical formulae – are easy to describe in words

11. Cards can contain data on: Magnetic strips – e.g. bank cards and train tickets – these contain little data and are easily damaged Chips (Smart Cards) – such as the new “Chip and Pin” credit cards and some loyalty cards. These contain more data and are harder to copy/forge Card Input

12. The characters are printed in magnetic ink at the bottom of cheques: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Account details

13. Advantages and Disadvantages Data is easily read by humans as well as the computer Little training is required – you just feed the cheques into the machine It’s difficult for forgers to change details Specialist high- quality printing equipment is required – this obviously costs more!

14. Encoding Information Sometimes you might want to turn information into data – i.e. to store it – this is called encoding Your data capture methods will form part of the encoding process – how are you going to collect the information? How do you code information to make it easy to re-process, without losing it’s meaning?

15. Encoding Example Often surveys have questions like this: A level ICT is brilliant! Disagree strongly Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Agree strongly How would you collect the responses? Would that be the most reliable method?