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First published February 28, 2008 as JAMIA PrePrint; doi:10.1197/jamia.M2381
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J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2008;15:386-389. DOI 10.1197/jamia.M2381.
© 2008 American Medical Informatics Association

Case Report

Reducing Errors from the Electronic Transcription of Data Collected on Paper Forms: A Research Data Case Study

Monika M. Wahi, MPHa,b,*, David V. Parks, BSEE, MBAb, Robert C. Skeate, MDc and Steven B. Goldin, MD, PhDd

a Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Florida College of Public Health, Tampa, FL
b Department of Facilities and Academic Support for Technology, Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr., Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
c North Central Blood Services, American Red Cross, St. Paul, MN
d Department of Surgery, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, FL.

* Correspondence: Monika M. Wahi, MPH, Department of Facilities and Academic Support for Technology, Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, 4001 East Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, FL 33613 (Email: mwahi{at}byrdinstitute.org).

Received for publication: 01/17/07; accepted for publication: 01/02/08.

We conducted a reliability study comparing single data entry (SE) into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to entry using the existing forms (EF) feature of the Teleforms software system, in which optical character recognition is used to capture data off of paper forms designed in non-Teleforms software programs. We compared the transcription of data from multiple paper forms from over 100 research participants representing almost 20,000 data entry fields. Error rates for SE were significantly lower than those for EF, so we chose SE for data entry in our study. Data transcription strategies from paper to electronic format should be chosen based on evidence from formal evaluations, and their design should be contemplated during the paper forms development stage.






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Copyright © 2008 by the American Medical Informatics Association.