Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program. Information Technology and Data-Driven Decision Making Creating a Database to Evaluate Evidence-Based Practice.  Quick Tips 

Creating a Database in Excel

1. First create a title for your database. Type the survey title in the first cell at Row 1, Column A. 2. Move down two rows to Row 3, Column A and begin entering the column headers (labels to identify each collected data point). 3. The first column is the ID number or unique identifier. 4. The subsequent column headers should correspond to each identified data point. Columns can be labeled as numbers (e.g., Q1, Q2, PreQ1, PostQ1, etc) or by an abbreviated descriptive header (eg., Do you smoke = Smoke).  Each column header should only pertain to one data point. 5. Be sure to include additional column(s) if you would like to combine values associated with data points (e.g., Total scores, etc). 6. Your data base must support the collection of data pre and post intervention.  To meet this requirement you can 1) list pre and post data points on the same worksheet in Excel separated by a blank column or 2) list pre data points and post data points on separate worksheets.  Label one worksheet Pre Data and the second Post Data.

Creating a Codebook

1. Each data point should be listed in the codebook. 2. The data point labels in the codebook and column headings in the database should match. 3. The codebook should contain specific information regarding the description of the data point (e.g., Description of data point of age: Reported age of participant) and a coding translation. 4. Each code should be specific and accurate. The code for the data point can be the actual value reported (e.g., Code for data point of age:  Actual reported age of participant) or a number associated with a category (e.g., Code for data point of age:  1 = < 20, 2 = 21 – 29, 3 = 30 – 39, etc).