User-Oriented Laboratory Data Entry Computer System Designed to Reduce Errors

摘要

Data entry computer programs that focus on the user-system interface can reduce error, save time, and optimize personnel resources. Feed-back from the potential users during the task analysis and throughout the development stage should direct the formation of the computer code. Checking and verification of data, reduction of keystrokes, and in-place instructions are some of the techniques that should be utilized. These design principles and techniques were used during the development of ENTRY, a data entry computer program used to record data (e.g., sample weights, radiochemical analyses) for a long-term field and laboratory study. Extensive data must be collected each year from each of the more than 350 experimental plots used in the study. The data is entered on a MINC-11 microcomputer with two disk drives and less than eight kilobytes of usable memory. Despite the memory restriction, the program demonstrates a wide range of techniques which make it easy to use and consequently reduces the occurrence of errors. (ERA citation 09:030082)