In my opinion this discussion is somewhat related with the existence of default values. A checkbox has typically one default value (either true or false). I am not really sure if storing a default value is the same as storing an user selected one.
The idea of having 3 values (yes, no, null-flavoured) seems much more semantically rich and correct. I guess the null-flavoured can then be divided in "unknown to the user", "not applicable", "not yet answered by the user", ... I would also to add the difference between the doctor actually knowing the patient as particular condition (e.g. allergy to penicillin), or the patient claiming to the doctor he is allergic to penicillin. And so a simple checkbox of allergy to penicillin could become a set of options. [X] Allergy to penicillin VS (o) Patient says he is allergic to penicillin ( ) Patient says he is NOT allergic to penicillin ( ) Doctor says the patient is allergic to penicillin ( ) Doctor says the patient is NOT allergic to penicillin ( ) Unknown Of course, this would for sure have bad implications regarding the size of forms and time to fill them. Ricardo Cruz-Correia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.openehr.org/mailman/private/openehr-technical_lists.openehr.org/attachments/20110210/ef5e3013/attachment.html>
