Make sure you have a clear plan that everyone who is collecting data can see, including identifying what you need and how it's being measured in clear and hard to misinterpret language
Decide if you are collecting qualitative (Open ended response such as "I feel good today") or quantitative(numbers such as year you were born) data
Have a clear system! Include procedures and tests of the people doing the collecting BEFORE sending them out
Structure your data
Make sure it's in the same order so you don't have confusion of things like title vs author vs editor
If data is starting in something like a spreadsheet, rows vs columns is important!
Data labels are important, make sure each row, column or other is clearly labeled
You may want to specify the type of data expected, such as text, or single char, or integer, or float.
Databases store and organize data so you can get to it easier
Databases are good for larger amounts of data
Some examples of where a database might be useful
Customer information
Product or store information
Item collection information (Pokémon, Movies, Books)
Patient records
Student records
Why we have databases
Databases allow us to store more data easier than other formats, they also allow us to organize the data in lots of ways
Organized data allows us to run reports and queries more easily, so we can answer certain questions about our data, such as What is the email address for the customer? How many units did they buy last month? Last year? How much product have we sold last month? Last year?
Databases allow us to store and process our data, but also allow multiple simulations other people to also store and process data
Centralized locations for data to ensure everyone is using the same data and has access to it allows for better business practices
How to get data into a database
You can import a number of different types of files including text, but CSV files are commonly used
Imports can also happen from other programs including spreadsheet programs or other database programs
If you're using SQL you can use a create table or insert command to get your data into your database
There are also some Graphical options depending on the database type you're using
You can also write a script to enter in your data
How databases look different on different systems
Databases can be access by either Graphical User Interface (GUI) or Command line
The system you're using will affect how the data is stored and where it's being used
Different between how the data is stored and how it's accessed
You can have many different front end options, each may have different steps like switching between MS Word and Gooogle Docs
Dashboards are also commonly used for people that need to see but not change the data
Databases will save the information on your computer but that will depend on what database is installed, which can be different then the front end used
Databases can also be on servers and in the cloud, the front end would connect to those for viewing
Generally only a few people may change the data, but many more will be able to see the data
Examples of front ends
You can build your own, but a lot of people use already made options
Your front end can be as simple or complex as you like, some are free, some are not.
Some database front end options can be very complex and include data analytics and visualizations, examples include Tableau, MS Power BI, Oracle Analytics Cloud and AIMMS