I am working with a local Meth Task Force to collect and analyze data on the
impact of Methamphetamine on the courts and crime in Mesa County, Colorado
(population 120,000). For those in the east, you may be unaware of the
extent of the impact that Meth is having on communities throughout the west.
By some estimates, up to 80% of crime where I am in Grand Junction, Colorado
is related to Meth. I am trying to move away from anecdotal evidence and
gather data to measure the impact of Meth on crime and on the courts.
To that end, the District Court (trial court of general jurisdiction for
felonies) has granted me access to all drug case records. The Deputy
District Attorney has provided a list of statutes that they routinely charge
drug cases under, and with that we pulled a list of more than 1000 cases
from 2005-2006 alone. We are initially looking at 125 cases from Jan –
March of 2006 to get a sense of what information is in the case files, and
to develop a code-book on the data that we will record. We will then begin
working backward through the past several years of drug cases.
The challenge right now is to develop a format for collecting data. The
issue I am struggling with is the decision on how to most efficiently record
data: whether to use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to record information vs.
an Access database vs. a free-form database like askSam that enables both
structured fields as well as free-form data entry. I do not want to do
paper entry, and then have to re-enter it electronically; too much of a
waste of time. I know that Access is probably the way I need to go, but my
previous use with the program had been that I never particularly enjoyed
data entry in Access. Excel is much more user-friendly, but I am not sure
if it is powerful enough for collecting data, which will be a combination of
alphanumeric and memo fields. I have a long relationship with askSam;
which I used for data entry during my dissertation 12 years ago; but that
was mostly qualitative interview data. I am 99% convinced that relational
database is the way to go.
What I am looking for is suggestions on whether Excel is do-able for this;
and if so, if people have preferred ad-ons or templates that I should be
looking at. If I should just bite the bullet and go to access, that is ok
too, but I am also looking for ideas about how to make the process of
building the interface for the students collecting data a little less
painful.
All suggestions are welcome. Replies either on-list or off are fine.
Michael C. Gizzi, PhD
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Political Science
Mesa State College
Grand Junction, CO
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