1. Creating a data set From paper surveys to excel

2. STEPS 1.Order your filled questionnaires 2.Number your questionnaires 3.Name your variables. 4.Create a codebook in excel – Variable labels – Value labels (if necessary) 5.Input the data into a spreadsheet – Use “data validation” tools to simplify the process of entering categorical variables.

3. 1. Order your filled questionnaires If you used stratified random sampling or cluster sampling you want to order the filled questionnaires based on these groupings. This also helps when you have pre and post data. – Depending on the type of analysis you are doing you may want to have the pre and post survey for each respondent together or all the pre surveys first and then all the post surveys together.

4. 2. Number your surveys This will help you go from the dataset to the paper surveys easily in case you want to double check your work. It also will help if you want to keep respondents anonymous. – Each respondent is assigned a number so the dataset is de-identified, but you can go back to the actual paper survey if needed.

5. 3. Name your variables In general, each questionnaire item will become a variable in the dataset (Except for special cases where an item can be divided into more than one variable). Give your variables short names (about ten characters)

6. 4. Create a codebook in excel This will help you (or other people) when using the data set in the future. A codebook should include: – The variable names – The variable labels (a short description of that variable is measuring) – The value labels (especially important for categorical data that is entered in a dataset using numerical values. Each value should have a label!)

7. 4. Create a codebook in excel What to do with missing answers? What to do with wrong answers? (e.g., respondent marked 2 values when only 1 was required, etc.) It is good practice to create one value for missing answers and another for wrong answers.

8. 5. Input the data First put all the variable names across the columns. Use data validation tools to help you enter the data consistently. Start with survey #1 and make your way down (each survey is a single row) Make sure you save your work along the way! – This is tedious work so you don’t want to lose it!!!!

9. Entering Pre-Post data into an Excel spreadsheet

10. Input data from pre-post surveys When you have pre and post surveys you would enter the data in the same way as explained in the previous video First determine if observations in pre and post can be matched In matched data we have observations from the same element at 2 points in time (pre and post) and we can identify those elements and match them. If you distributed surveys to the same group of people twice but you cannot match which survey corresponds to which individual in the pre and post then you do not have matched data.

11. Input data from pre-post surveys Not Matched When you have pre and post surveys you would enter the data in the same way as explained in the previous video with 1 additional steps: 1. You would create a categorical variable called “pre_post” that has two values: “Pre” and “Post” – All the surveys that correspond to the pre would have the value “pre” in the pre_post variable and all the post surveys would get the value “Post” for the pre_post variable.

12. Input data from pre-post surveys Matched When you have pre and post surveys you would enter the data in the same way as explained in the previous video with 2 additional steps: 1. You would create a categorical variable called “pre_post” that has two values: “Pre” and “Post” – All the surveys that correspond to the pre would have the value “pre” in the pre_post variable and all the post surveys would get the value “Post” for the pre_post variable. 2. If you have matched data (that is when you have the same observation measured at 2 points in time (pre and post) then the observation numbers should match.

13. Entering Close ended questions that have non-mutually exclusive categories into an Excel spreadsheet

14. Input data from non mutually exclusive close-ended items Example: In your opinion, which of the following social problems affect your community? (please check all that apply) – Violence____ – Drugs______ – Poverty_____ – Obesity_____ – Other_______ – None of the above_____

15. Input data from non mutually exclusive close-ended items Entering data for closed ended items with non mutually exclusive categories can be a little tricky. I find that the best way to analyze these types of questions is by creating a set of binary variables each corresponding to a category in the original item.

16. Input data from non mutually exclusive close-ended items So for example you would create a variable called “cp_violence” that takes the value 1 if the respondent checked on“Violence” and 0 if the respondent did not. You would do the same for “Drugs”, “Poverty”, “Obesity”, “ none of the above”, and “Other” Finally some researchers also create a variable reflecting if the respondent did not answer he question (cp_NoAnswer).

17. Input data from non mutually exclusive close-ended items This will allow you to create frequency distributions for respondents that checked in each of the values separately. It would also allow you to combine items later on.