Web-based data capture and management in epidemiologic investigations

Database management is an important aspect of epidemiological studies requiring understanding of the scientific problems under investigation as well as a clear understanding of the formal data processing required. Failure to achieve this combination is not a rare event. To address this deficit, a database management process was designed that allows the epidemiologist investigator to focus entirely on the survey or data-capture instrument to be employed in the study. As that document is prepared, the database management is automatically constructed so that there are no interpretative errors. This approach has been prepared in two formats, both designed to function on the Internet; they are the Database Research (DBR) system and the Simplified Survey System (S3).