Data Entry 1

Session 9 Data Entry

9.0 Introduction and general principles for entering data using Excel

Excel is a powerful tool to extract meaningful information and insights from the data you have
collected (from surveys, trials, experiments etc.)

For any of this to be meaningful however, it is essential that the data is entered as accurately as
possible. Here we will give some guidelines to help you enter your data as accurately and usefully as
possible.

The single most important element of data entry is the person entering the data the process can
be repetitive and boring so they must make great effort to concentrate and remain focussed. This is
something you may not be able to control. Here are we present some tools that Excel has built in
that can help. We also give some general guidelines on how to lay out your data so that you can
make the most of it when you are analysing.

NB. To minimise the chance of errors during the data entry process it is really worth putting in time
and thought to design your data entry forms on Excel well.

9.1 Layout and formats

Rows:

One row should contain all the information available for one experimental unit. For example if you
are collecting parasitological data for school children, one row should contain all the information for
one child. If you are collecting school level data (location, number of pupils etc.) one row should
contain all the information for one school.

Columns:

One column should contain all the data available for one variable (eg. Age, Number of Hookworm
eggs). The format of data in each data should be consistent if a variable is a number, all values
entered in this column should be numbers.
2

1
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1 Experimental units (schools in this case)

2 Variables

9.2 Data Validation Functions

What is data validation?

Data validation in excel are a series of methods that allow you to place restrictions on the type of
data that can be input to cells. You can configure this so that incorrect data is prevented from being
recorded, or so that a warning message is produced if the user enters incorrect data.

Excel provides a large range of data validation options. Here we do not provide an exhaustive list of
the many functions available, we will show you how to find the options and demonstrate a couple of
the techniques. We will also show you where to find guides to all the various options.

We will refer to variables in the practice dataset throughout this demo but these techniques are of
course applicable to any type of data that you have.

Here are some of the things you can do with data validation (taken from Excel help pages):

Restrict numbers outside a specified range For example, you can specify a minimum limit of

deductions to two times the number of children in a particular cell.

Restrict dates outside a certain time frame For example, you can specify a time frame

between today's date and 3 days from today's date.

Restrict times outside a certain time frame For example, you can specify a time frame for

serving breakfast between the time when the restaurant opens and 5 hours after the restaurant

opens.

Limit the number of text characters For example, you can limit the allowed text in a cell to 10

or fewer characters. Similarly, you can set the specific length for a full name field (C1) to be the

current length of a first name field (A1) and a last name field (B1), plus 10 characters.

Validate data based on formulas or values in other cells

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How do you apply data validation

To apply data validation to a column, highlight a column by clicking on the column description at the
top of the worksheet (A, B, C etc.)

Then go to the Data ribbon and click on Data Validation

This will give you a menu that looks like this:

This lets you select

what type of data
you want to be
entered eg.
Integers, text, date,
time. You can also
specify custom data
types with functions.

With this you can

specify if blank cells
are allowed

Here you set what range of

data is allowed (eg between 1
and 10 only)
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The Input Message

option lets you
create a message
that shows up when
a cell is selected.
This can be useful to
remind the person
entering data what
sort of data they
should be entering.
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The Error Alert page lets

you set what happens if
incorrect data is entered.
You can stop the data from
being entered or you can
create a warning message
and allow the data to still
be entered.

Demo: Applying data validation to CCA information

We know from the protocol that the CCA results must be a whole number from 0 to 4. We will
apply these restrictions to the CCA column.

1. Go to the first cell under the CCA variable heading (cell N2) and press Ctrl+Shift+Down
arrow to highlight the whole column.

2. Go to the Data ribbon and select Data Validation

3. Select Whole Number between 0 and 4:

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4. Write a suitable input message

5. Write an error message

6. Click OK and try inputting some data into the CCA column. What happens when you write
incorrect data?

Now you: Explore the options

Explore the options with the other variables and try to design suitable data validation
restrictions.
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For more information you can use the built in help function:

On the top right of the screen you will see the ? symbol

Open the help box and type data validation and click the first option Apply data validation to
cells.

This will give you detailed guidelines on all the options available.