A RESEARCH DATABASE FOR IMPROVED DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS IN LONGITUDINAL-STUDIES

We developed a research database for a five-year prospective investiga tion of the medical, social, and developmental correlates of chronic l ung disease during the first three years of life. We used the Ingres d atabase management system and the Statit statistical software package. The database includes records containing 1300 variables each, the res ults of 35 psychological tests, each repeated five times (providing lo ngitudinal data on the child, the parents, and behavioral interactions ), both raw and calculated variables, and both missing and deferred va lues. The four-layer menu-driven user interface incorporates automatic activation of complex functions to handle data verification, missing and deferred values, static and dynamic backup, determination of calcu lated values, display of database status, reports, bulk data extractio n, and statistical analysis.