In the end, data entry is simply subject to errors. No matter what tool is used, some method of QA needs to be employed to check the original against the entered data.
I don't know that anyone has improved on 'double entry', where two people enter the same data, and the two results are compared by machine (or person) and any differences printed for QA to check. That used to be fairly standard. People have also employed two-person entry schemes, where one reads data to the other who enters it, then they reverse, and one reads the entered data and one verifies against the original. Any automated tool can only check for out-of-bounds errors, I think. Plausible entries will still get by. If both AUG and GUA are acceptable in some setting, that error would not be caught by an automated system, but it might be caught by double-entry. On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 3:44 AM, David Martin (Staff) < d.m.a.mar...@dundee.ac.uk> wrote: > I can imagine there being a market for a javascript/browser based data > collection/spreadsheet tool. Completely portable, coupled with D3 you could > get great graphing OOTB. And the data could well just be local. > > > ..d > > > Dr David Martin > Lecturer in Bioinformatics > College of Life Sciences > University of Dundee > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Discuss <discuss-boun...@lists.software-carpentry.org> on behalf > of Noam Ross <noam.r...@gmail.com> > *Sent:* 27 August 2016 00:41 > *To:* Gabriel A. Devenyi; Tiffany Timbers; discuss@lists.software- > carpentry.org > *Subject:* Re: [Discuss] Excel errors.... (Tiffany Timbers) > > > I have recently tried using airtable.com for a couple of projects. With > it, you can create databases of linked tables, enter data in a > spreadsheet-like or form mode with constrained data types (including > image/file uploads), and access everything via CSV download or REST API > (for which there is an R wrapper). It has a nice mobile app for field data > entry if the form is not very complicated. I like it a lot, though it is > new, its versioning system is sort of weird, and it is online-only. > <http://airtable.com/> > Airtable: Organize anything you can imagine <http://airtable.com/> > airtable.com > Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to > organize anything. Sign up for free. > > > On Fri, Aug 26, 2016, 6:19 PM Gabriel A. Devenyi <gdeve...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> LibreOffice also has a database tool >> https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/base/ >> >> On Fri, Aug 26, 2016, 18:16 Tiffany Timbers <tiffany.timb...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Emily Jane asked a good question about what are the other options, aside >>> from Excel, Libre Office, or text editors as a means for data entry. >>> >>> Forms, whose output can later be accessed as tabular data (e.g., CSV), >>> are a solution I have used and liked. Proprietary database software, such >>> as Filemaker Pro exists, and from my experience, is fairly user friendly. >>> For open source options, I would use Google forms, or if you want an option >>> that doesn’t have to be hosted on the web, you could try out Dean Attali’s >>> shinyforms R package (works, but is still under development) [1]. >>> >>> I especially like forms for data entry, as you can more easily constrain >>> how the data gets entered (predefined columns, drop-down menus with limited >>> options, etc), compared to the free-for-all that exists with a spreadsheet. >>> >>> I’d love to hear other’s favourite tools and opinions on this topic. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Tiffany >>> >>> [1] https://github.com/daattali/shinyforms >>> >>> Tiffany Timbers >>> tiffany.timb...@gmail.com >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> Message: 4 >>> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 15:02:06 -0700 >>> From: Emily Jane McTavish <ejmctav...@gmail.com> >>> To: Software Carpentry Discussion >>> <discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org> >>> Subject: Re: [Discuss] Excel errors.... >>> Message-ID: <80cea324-0514-6871-0f3d-42bb5bc1b...@gmail.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed >>> >>> Great points. >>> >>> I have a question about alternatives to excel for data input. >>> >>> Following this paper I have seen a lot of 'never use Excel' tweets, but >>> that seems to be ignoring a key step in real world data analysis >>> pipelines. If data is not coming straight off a machine, such as in >>> ecological surveys, behavioral experiments, meta-analyses of gene names, >>> etc., those data need to be put into a tabular, machine readable, format >>> (e.g. CSV) somehow. I don't think anyone is recommending using a text >>> editor to do that. >>> Libre office calc and google sheets have many of the same autoformat >>> issues as Excel. (although that may be fixed in new versions of libre >>> office?) >>> >>> I think when people say 'don't use excel', they often mean 'for >>> analysis', or 'for statistics'. But this paper demonstrates it is >>> problematic for even simple data input. I know what to recommend as >>> alternatives in the former cases, but not for the latter. Am I missing >>> good alternative options here? >>> >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Emily Jane >>> >>> -- >>> Emily Jane McTavish >>> Assistant Professor >>> School of Natural Sciences >>> University of California, Merced >>> 5200 N. Lake Rd, Merced CA 95343 >>> ejmctav...@gmail.com, ejmctav...@ucmerced.edu >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 08/26/2016 02:42 PM, Steven Haddock wrote: >>> >>> I was going to post that article too, but I dug into it (read the >>> paper), and it is really just conversion of gene names (like SEPT5) in >>> supplementary files. That was reported long ago as affecting some >>> quantifications, but I would call it analytical errors as we have seen in >>> the past. A bit of a tempest in a teapot, perhaps. >>> >>> Ironic twist, the paper provides a supplementary file listing all the >>> gene-name errors they found, posted as an Excel file. >>> >>> -Steve >>> >>> On Aug 26, 2016, at 14:26 , Maxime Boissonneault <maxime.boissonneault@ >>> calculquebec.ca> wrote: >>> >>> Hi everyone, >>> Some interesting content to use about how to not do science correctly >>> with a computer.... >>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/26/ >>> an-alarming-number-of-scientific-papers-contain-excel-errors/ >>> >>> >>> Maxime Boissonneault >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> Subject: Digest Footer >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> End of Discuss Digest, Vol 37, Issue 19 >>> *************************************** >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > > > The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096 > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss >
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