LibGuides: Data-Intensive Research: Data Collection & Organization

Choosing a Tool for Data Collection

Following spreadsheet best practices and using databases for data collection are great ways to mitigate common problems associated with spreadsheet use and data organization. It's also important to keep the following in mind when selecting a tool for data collection.

Best Practices

The following data collection and organization best practices guides are provided by the Cornell University Research Data Management Services Group

Tools for Data Organization and Collection

REDCap Tool available through the CTSC that allows you to quickly create a clinical database and data input forms. Geared primarily toward manual data entry. Allows for the output of data into common statistical package formats (SPSS, R, SAS, Stata).
REDCap Training Resources General overview of some of REDCap's preliminary concepts and features.
ITS Storage and Servers Resources and services to help researchers meet their individual computing needs
ITS File Sharing Large file sharing and transfer services available through WCMC ITS. All users are able to log in to use the File Transfer Service and review the File Transfer Service User Guide.
Research Data Storage Core Facility Secure networked storage space for research data. Free for up to 25 GB
Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing Database Design Services

Additional Resources for Understanding Databases

General Database Design & Management

Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design (3rd Edition) This book emphasizes processes database designers should follow in building a new database or improving an existing one. Thoroughly covers data integrity, null values, keys, table relationships, and data types.
Modern Database Management (10th Edition) This book focuses on what leading database practitioners say are the most important aspects to database development.
Library of Free Data Models Industry-specific Data Models in 50 categories including medicine and pharmaceuticals

SQL

MySQL Workbench: Data Modeling & Development A beginner's guide to working with MySQL Workbench
W3Schools SQL Tutorial Using SQL to access and manipulate data in: MySQL, SQL Server, Access, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, and other database systems
The Art of SQL Insightful book, named after The Art of War by Sun Tzu, on writing SQL code that will survive major changes in database management systems and generations of hardware.
Writing SQL Queries- Guide to SQL basics provided by Microsoft
15 MySQL Database Administration Tools Both free and purchasable phpMyAdmin alternatives.

Video Tutorials

Six-Step Relational Database Design (11 videos) Series of videos breaking down database design into six basic steps
Creating Entity Relationship Diagrams in MS Visio (3 videos) This tutorial uses MS Visio 2007. Other versions may have slightly different menus.
MySQL Workbench Tutorial (1 video)
Data Normalization Demonstration (1 video) Concrete example of data normalization within a relational database

Quick Links

The following links are located in every tab of this guide in the right-hand column for your convenience.

DMP Tool Creating data management plans
Research Data Management Services Group Resources and services at Cornell for data management
REDCap HIPAA compliant data collection
Architecture for Research Computing in Health (ARCH) Secondary use of EHR data
WCM Data Core Secure, scalable computing and storage environment
WCM Applied Bioinformatics Core Computational resources, data lifecycle management and bioinformatics consulting

Additional Training

Data Management for Clinical Research Free online course periodically offered through Coursera.org. Instruction via Vanderbilt University.

Introduction to Databases Free online self study course through Coursera.org covering database design and database management systems. Instruction via Stanford University.

Data-Intensive Research: Data Collection & Organization