data collection forms
J Watanabe
I designed forms for entering data into the Access
database.
The forms taken out to the field for data collection are
made in MS Word. Is it useful or possible to design
these data collection forms in Access? I would like to
have all the documents for this database in one
application if possible.
I use MS Word because I can have the data collector write
the date and year one time at the top of each page,
instead of once for each record as in an Access base
table.
Thank you for your thoughts on this question!
John Nurick
set the default value of the field to Date().
If Access is installed on the computers that will be used for
data collection, I'd recommend using Access for data
collection, not Word. It is much easier to validate data on
input with Access than with Word, and it is also simpler to
collect the data into one database later on for analysis.
John Nurick [Microsoft Access MVP]
Please respond in the newgroup and not by email.
J Watanabe
I think I should clarify my question. I have already
designed Access forms for data entry. I have a Word
document that is printed and taken out to the field where
the data collectors write in the data in pencil. It is
this document (taken to the field) that I am wondering if
Access might be able to handle. I have not seen any
mention of using Access for this function yet.
Thanks for following this!
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John Nurick
can scan typewritten or printed forms and extract the data very
successfully.
But if the forms are filled in by hand in pencil it is much
more difficult: PCs cannot yet reliably read handwriting. The
best chance of success is if you design the paper version of
the form in such a way that almost all the questions can be
answered by writing an X or a big black dot in little boxes or
circles printed on the paper. I suspect that any written data
would have to be in block capitals carefully written in
individual squares also pre-printed on the paper, and even then
the error rate could be unacceptably high.
On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 09:03:44 -0800, "J Watanabe"
J Watanabe
I am wondering if I could use Access to design and print
the data collection sheets to be taken to the field. I
currently use Word to print the forms taken to the
field. The forms will be taken back to the office and
the data will be entered, manually, into Access data
entry forms.
My goal is to have the data collection sheet look very
similar to the data entry form. I will have some
exceptions to this rule. I will have the date, for
example, appear only once on the data collection sheet
for each page. Of course, when the sheets get back to
the office and the data are entered, each record will be
associated with the appropriate date.
I guess another way to explain what I am looking for is a
way to print a blank form, with grid lines, to take out
to the field for data collection. I would like to use
the formatting capabilities of Access forms or reports to
design these collection forms, if possible. Otherwise, I
will stick with my Word documents.
Again, thank you for helping me think this through!
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John Nurick
collection form by creating an Access report with no
datasource, or maybe even as an Accesss form, but I don't
think I'd want to.
It certainly helps data entry if the Access form and the paper
form are laid out in a similar way, but they're not going to be
identical so you will have to design them separately and might
as well use separate tools. If you have a DTP programme such as
Publisher you may find that easier than Word; or if you have
Visio, that contains a form design stencil.
If there's a compelling reason to keep everything in the one
mdb file, you could create a table containing an OLE field and
store the Word or other file(s) as embedded objects in that.
On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 17:56:56 -0800, "J Watanabe"
J Watanabe
to keep these paper data collections in Access, so I will
keep them in Word.
Thanks again for helping!
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