Hired five data entry personal to enter data from a survey from Myanmar into a database. They were paper based surveys done in pilot and control areas to capture various socio-economic data related to value chain analysis. These data were to be entered into a database in SPSS (very similar to entering data into excel or other spreadsheets). Most of the data entry personnel had experience in data entry for surveys, and that too in softwares like SPSS and excel. Data entry itself was not much of an issue for the entry personnel (PRIOR LEARNING). The main issue was making sense of data captured in the paper based surveys and in translating it into appropriate entries on the database (RETENTION AND TRANSFER).

 

The database in SPSS was created mainly by a colleague who had traveled to Myanmar to supervise the survey on the ground, with some of my inputs. I went over all the questions in the survey one by one with the group of five highlighting the MCQ’s, open entry questions, numeric entry questions, cross checking entries, dealing with entries beyond the major scope of the survey and so on(SCHEMA). Then the task was for installing SPSS into all the data entry personnels computers and asking them to do a mock entry of data (REHERSAL). This allowed the personal to actually put the paper responses made on the ground to fit the format created by the database (REHERSAL/PRACTICE).
 

The data entry personal brought their own previous experiences of data entry (and in some cases data analysis!) into this process (PRIOR LEARNING). They refined the database itself with its flaws and helped refine the entry process (ASSIMILATION). This collective process brought an updated database which was to be used for data entry.
 

During data entry, the databases had certain variances in weather they were control databases or pilot ones. Also, extreme answers and outliers had to find ways of entry into the database which was sorted as we worked (COGNITIVE MAPS). There were about 150 surveys to be entered by the 5 people.The first surveys went slow and changes had to be made at times and notes taken in the beginning. But things started rolling as we worked through, and towards the end, data entry was fast. The whole process took just over a weeks time (ASSESSMENT).