1. Epi Info™ 7 Introductory Training
Harold Collins
Information Technology Specialist
Module 1: Introduction
12 June 2012
Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services
Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office

2. Introductions Your name Your organization
What you hope to get out of this course

3. Module 1 Outline Purpose of the Course Explanation of Course Material
Course Instruction Methods
Quick Overview: What is Epi Info™ 7?
Downloading and Installing Epi Info™ 7
Resources

4. Objectives of this Course
To provide broad overview of the software’s features and functions
To provide hands-on experience with the software
Designing simple data entry forms
Implementing simple data entry validation
Basic analysis and data management
Basic mapping

5. Objectives of this Course
After completing this course the participant will be able to:
Understand the workspace of the different modules and identify its key features
Design simple data entry forms using the Form Designer
Implement intelligence to data entry forms using Check Code
Enter records into an Epi Info™ 7 form
Read multiple data sources and utilize the Visual Dashboard and/or Classic Analysis modules for manipulating, managing, and analyzing data
Generate statistics like Frequencies, 2x2 Tables, and Means
Output results into HTML, Excel or Word formats
Generate cluster case or choropleth maps using Epi Map

6. Explanation of Course Materials
Training Agenda for Epi Info™ 7
Copy of the Epi Info™ 7 Quick Start Guide (Optional)
Epi Info™ 7 PowerPoint Slides
Student Worksheets

7. Module 1 – Introduction
Instruction Methods

8. Modules This course is broken down into eight sections: Introduction
Designing Forms
Adding validation logic to forms
Data Entry
Using the Dashboard
Classic Analysis
Maps
Best Practices

9. Method of Instruction This is an introductory session
Students will be exposed to a broad overview of the features and functions in Epi Info™ 7
Hold questions until Question and Answer Sessions
Order of instruction for each module:
PowerPoint Presentation
Demonstration
Practice
End-of-Lesson Questions

10. Module 1 – Introduction
What is Epi Info™?

11. What is Epi Info™?
A suite of free data management, analysis, and visualization tools designed specifically for the public health community.
Features include:
Rapid electronic form creation & data entry
Statistical analysis
Mapping & visualization
Used extensively throughout CDC, domestically and internationally.

12. System Requirements
Generally, any Windows computer that has recently run Windows Update.
Specifically:
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
.NET Framework 3.5
256 MB of RAM

13. Epi Info™ 7 – Core Principles
Free
Easy to use
Flexible
Lightweight & Agile – when responding to emergencies
Robust – when performing large-scale, multi-user data collection
Standards based
No “IT guys” needed in most cases

14. Form Designer
Used to create electronic data entry forms. Templates can be utilized to facilitate form design. The data entry experience can be tailored with intelligence, such as skip patterns, logical branching, and automatic calculations.

15. Enter
Used to collect data into the form. Addresses can be geocoded into latitude and longitude. Data entry follows the Intelligence rules tailored in the Form Designer.

16. Classic Analysis
Used for data management and analysis. Can read data, relate data tables, perform comparisons and run a wide variety of statistics. Supported data types include text files, Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, and MS SQL Server databases. Output is saved as HTML.

17. Visual Dashboard
Used for quick analysis where only minimal data management is needed. Supports almost all of the statistics as Classic Analysis and supports the same data types. Output is saved as HTML.

18. Maps
Used to create case cluster or choropleth maps. Time lapse functionality is supported. Choropleth maps can be generated using shape files or from map servers such as nationalmaps.gov.

19. StatCalc
Basic Statistical Calculator. Can perform analyses of single or stratified two-by-two tables, determine sample size for studies, and more.

20. Epi Info™ 7 Projects
Projects are the standard file format in Epi Info™ 7, much like DOCX files are the standard file format used in Microsoft Word.
Certain Epi Info™ 7 modules can also work with data that resides in other formats.
A project may contain one or more data entry forms. These forms are created in the Form Designer module.

21. Epi Info™ 7 Forms Forms may have one or more pages
Each page on the form has its own “data table”
As users enter data into a form, the collected data is stored within that page’s corresponding data table

22. How data is stored
The data you collect must be stored somewhere and in some sort of standard format.
Epi Info™ 7 collects two different types of data:
Metadata: The data that describes the number of pages in a form and the placement and size of the questions that appear on the form.
Collected data: The data that is entered into that form.

23. How data is stored (continued)
Both metadata and collected data are stored in a single database.
Each Epi Info™ 7 project contains a “pointer” to this database.
Allowable databases include Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server.
Access does not need to be installed in order to use Access databases.
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts (types). Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at design time the application contains no data. In this case the correct description would be "data about the containers of data". Descriptive metadata, on the other hand, is about individual instances of application data, the data content. In this case, a useful description (resulting in a disambiguating neologism) would be "data about data content" or "content about content" thus metacontent.

24. To sum it up…
Your Epi Info™ 7 Projects consist of two files: The project file and the database.
The database contains all of the information about how to display the form AND contains all the data entered into that form.
The project file contains a pointer to the database.
Projects may contain one or more forms.
Forms may contain one or more pages.
Each page has it’s a corresponding table in the database that stores data collected into that page.

25. Why use Microsoft SQL Server?
MS SQL Server can collect far larger quantities of data than Access databases.
Better management tools for MS SQL Server and more powerful queries are available.
Similar to “Proc-SQL” in SAS
It’s much faster, meaning data analysis is quicker.
A free version is available – SQL Server Express

26. Data Access Model

27. DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLATION
Module 1 – Introduction
DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLATION

28. Downloading and Installing
Epi Info™ 7 program files can be accessed on the Web
Setup Installation (.exe file)
Provides standard way of installing Windows applications.
Requires administrator privileges to run.
Zip File Deployment (.zip file)
Comes in a standard “zip” archive.
Does not require administrator privileges to run.
Needs one folder with read/write/execute privileges.
Can usually be placed on the desktop.

29. Using the ZIP File Deployment
Steps:
Navigate to the CDC Epi Info™ website at
Click on the ZIP file download.
When prompted, select “Open” (or “Run”). After the download finishes, an explorer window opens to reveal the files in the ZIP archive.
Double-click on the “Epi Info 7” folder in the explorer window.
Drag the files you see to your desktop.
Double-click on the “Launch Epi Info” icon.

30. Step 1: Navigate to the website
Visit

31. Step 2: Download the ZIP package

32. Step 3: Opening the package
Select “Open” (or “Run”) when prompted, depending on your web browser. Internet Explorer 8 is shown here.

33. Step 4: Viewing the contents
Double-click the “Epi Info 7” item in the explorer window. Note that on some computers, this file may have opened in another ZIP archive program.

34. Step 5: Drag the files to your desktop
Select the two items in the folder and drag them to your desktop.

35. Step 6: Run the “Launch” program
Double-click on the “Launch Epi Info 7” icon to start!

36. The Epi Info 7 Main Menu

37. Module 1 – Introduction
Resources

38. Resources and Technical Support
Download at
Helpline: or call
Epi Info™ Community of Users in phConnect
Send your comments and suggestions to or

39. This Slide Presentation
This slide presentation can be downloaded from the Epi Info™ Community of Users in phConnect:

40. Epi Info™ 7 – Demonstration On YouTube

41. Questions?
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.
Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services
Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office