Development of a database management/analysis system for field research activities within a coordinated research project

There are several ways a database/analysis system can assist a scientist en gaged in field research. Specifically, it can assist the scientist with acc urate data collection and more rigorous data analyses. The database managem ent portion of this system allows accurate data collection and provides eas y data entry through the use of forms. In addition, it can provide the scie ntist with structured methods of error checking data entry and checking for implausible values and false zeros. The system can also assist the scienti st with the organization of the data and provide easy methods of sorting, g rouping, and selecting data for analysis. Data can then be exported to a da ta analysis program where the first step is data validation. A menu of anal yses using examples from the coordinated research project (CRP) are demonst rated using statistical methods that test continuous and categorical data. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.