Protocols for Data Collection, Management and Treatment

Abstract

Epidemiologists and other researchers must plan study protocols that incorporate objective monitoring of physical activity and/or sedentary behaviours by systematically considering all of the complex logistics associated with data collection, management and treatment. With regard to data collection, instrument choice is a foremost consideration, largely shaped by the researcher's questions and available resources. Instrument-specific features may provide greater analytical capacity, but can also greatly complicate planning and must be accommodated. Data collection decisions also include the duration of monitoring required to establish stable estimates of behaviour, without overburdening participants. Data management concerns include systematic processes for quality control, data cleaning, data organization and storage. Data treatment includes decision rules that further shape the accumulated information, including computation of derived variables (as catalogued in Chap. 3) in anticipation of subsequent data analyses.