ANTHROPOMETRIC SOFTWARE PACKAGE TUTORIAL GUIDE AND HANDBOOK
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ANTHROPOMETRIC SOFTWARE
PACKAGE
TUTORIAL GUIDE AND HANDBOOK - extracted text
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I
CASP
I
V3.0
ANTHROPOMETRIC SOFTWARE
PACKAGE
TUTORIAL GUIDE AND HANDBOOK
By Michael Dennis Jordan
The complete instruction set for using the anthropometric analysis
software based on the
CDC Standard Deviation-Derived Growth Reference Curves
Derived from NCHS/CDC Reference Population
NCHS Growth Curves for Children, Birth-18 years, United States
Series 11-number 165, DHEW Publication number (PHS) 78-1650
Software by the Div. of Nutrition,ccDPHP , Centers for Disease Control
Supported, in part, by the Office of Nutrition
Agency for International Development (AID)
under RSSA # BST-1064-R-HC-2174-03
i
THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
CsntSr lot Chronic Disease Prevention -and Health Promotion
Division of Nutrition, Statistics Branch
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
US Dept of Health and Human Services US Public Health Service
—
THE CDC ANTHROPOMETRIC SOFTWARE PACKAGE
Version 3.0
TUTORIAL GUIDE AND HANDBOOK
By Michael Dennis Jordan
The complete instruction set for using the anthropometric analysis
software based on the
CDC Standard Deviation-Derived Growth Reference Curves
Derived from NCHS/CDC Reference Population
NCHS Growth Curves for Children, Birth-18 years. United States
Series 11-number 165, DHEW Publication number (PHS) 78-1650
Software by Michael D. Jordan. Anthropometric subroutine set
supported by Norman W. Staehling, Div. of Nutrition,
Center for Health Promotion and Education
Supported, in part, by the Office of Nutrition,
Agency for International Development (AID)
under RSSA # BST-1064-R-HC-2174-03
This software is in the public domain and available without cost.
Technical assistance may be obtained by writing to the author.
THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
Center for Health Promotion and Education
Division of Nutrition, Statistics Branch
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Second Printing
April 1987
J
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Foremost to
NORMAN W. STAEHLING, MS, Statistician
who maintains the FORTRAN version of the anthropometric isubroutine
upon which the microcomputer version is based.
Furthermore, the author extends gratitude to the following individuals
and institutions for their contributions and guidance.
The Centers for Disease Control
Frederick Trowbridge, MD
Ronald Fichtner, PhD
Barbara Sullivan
Faye Wong, MPH, RD
Richard Peck, MPH
Steve Ilardi, BS
The Johns Hopkins University Schoel of Hygiene and Public Health
Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD
Sandra Huffman, ScD
The International Food Policy Research Group
Bruce Cogill, PhD
Introduction
How to use this Handbook
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
3
Chapter I Using the Entry Program
1.1 Making an Anthropometric Calculation
1.2 Editing Your Entries
1.3 Edit Flags
1.4 Making Patient Record Files
1.5 Creating Extra Classification Variables
1.6 Entering Records Into Patient Files
1.7 Setting Tabs
1.8 Searching and Viewing Records
1.9 Editing Records
1.10 Deleting Records
1.11 Making Field-Specific Inclusive i__.
and Exclusive Searches
1.12 Transferring and Sub-setting Files
1.13 Sample Weights
1.14 Merging Files
4
7
8
8
9
11
12
13
14
15
15
17
18
21
Chapter II Using the Tab Program
2.1 Planning a Cross-Tabulation
2.2 The Interval Template
2.3 Editing Interval Templates
2.4 Performing the Cross-Tdbulation
2.5 Saving Cross-Tabulation Intervals
2.6 Printing the Cross-Tabulation
22
23
27
27
29
29
Chapter III Making and Using Histograms
3.1 Where to Begin
3.2 Fetching the Data
3.3 Making the Histogram
3.4 Precision Bar Heights
3.5 N-Shift
3.6 Summary of Steps
3.7 Graphing the Means
31
31
32
34
35
36
36
Chapter IV Using the Batch Program
4.1 Preparing Raw Data for Batch Processing
4.2 Processing the Raw Data File
4.3 Examining Source Data File
4.4 Identifying Field Locations
4.5 Convert and Compute Source File
4.6 Converting Batch Files to Output Files
38
39
40
41
45
47
Appendix A The Mathematical Operators
50
Appendix B Files Made By Version 3
52
Appendix C Accuracy of Anthropometric Indites
53
Appendix D Lotus Compatibility
54
WAIT!
Before you use any of the software in the package, protect your materials:
COPY YOUR DISKETTES!
The Program Diskette contains the most essential parts of the
Anthropometric Software Package. The Supplemental Files Diskette has sample
files that will help you learn to use the package properly.
The files on the two diskettes are not copy protected, In fact, we urge
you to copy them before you do anything else, Some of the sample files are
used in the tutorial portions of the documentation, You will have to read
from and write to some of these files, If they are lost or you accidentally
ruin them in the learning process, you will not be able to finish the tutorial.
Use only copies of the diskettes, not the originals.
If you have a computer with a non-removable hard disk, you should create a
directory (consult your DOS manual) and copy the entire package into your new
directory.
INVENTORY OF GASP PACKAGE
1 User Registration Form (MUST be filled out and sent to GDC!)
1 User’s Tutorial and Guidebook
1 5.25 inch DS/DD Program Diskette containing:
ENTRY.EXE
TAB.EXE
BATCH.EXE
DATA
1 5.25 inch DS/DD Supplemental Files Diskette containing:
DEMOBAT.TXT
DEMOTAB. TAB
SAMPLE.ETB
SWAP.EXE
LCHANGE.EXE
*
FOR VERSION 2 USERS
In Mid-1985, The Centers for Disease Control, Center for Health Promotion
and Education, distributed the second release of the Anthropometric
Statistical Package (CASP). The patients files you’ve made with Version 2 are
not compatible with Version 3.0.
SWAP, a supplemental program found on the supplemental files diskette of
this package, will convert your old Version 2 files Into Version 3.0 files.
The conversion program makes files with three different extensions: ETB,
TXT and FED.
ETB files are SWAP-converted files that can be used immediately in the
Version 3.0 ENTRY and TAB programs. They are direct conversions of the Version
2 data including the anthropometric indices. Note: since SWAP performs no
recomputations there is no way for the program to detect when it is copying an
Edit Flagged record. (See EDIT FLAGS in the user handbook). There is no Edit
Flag field in the Version 2 filfes to copy therefore the Edit Flag field in the
Version 3.0 ETB files will all be blank.
TXT are conversions of Version 2 files into an ASCII file without the
anthropometric indices. Some programmers call them batch files or rectangular
files. The ASCII file is a bonus. There are many applications for this TXT
file because it can be easily read and edited by other programs.
TXT files contain all the data from the individual records in Version 2
files except the anthropometric indices. The BATCH program in this package
can reprocess the TXT files and apply the computed indices. The processed
files are also output as ASCII files* BATCH also produces ETB files.
The advantage of reprocessing the TXT into a new ETB is that you will
obtain anthropometric indices that are calculated by the algorithms identical
to those in the Centers’ central computer.
FED is a field location template and partner to TXT file. You’ll need it
should you decide to reprocess the TXT file with BATCH. FLD contains all the
field locations for I.D., age, sex, height, weight, and all extra
classification variables, if any. Read BATCH for further details about FLD
files •
Lotus 1-2-3* compatibility promised in Version 2 was never fully
successful• In Version 3.0 there is a program called LCHANGE on the
supplemental files diskette that will convert ETB and TAB files to 1-2-3 PRN
flies• Read Appendix D for further details.
* Lotus 1-2-3 and DBase used throughout this manual are copyrighted trademark
names used by Lotus Corporation and Ashton-Tate, Inc., respectively.
USER HANDBOOK
page 1
INTRODUCTION
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THE ANTHROPOMETRIC SOFTWARE PACKAGE?
The CDC Anthropometric Software Package consists of three programs called
ENTRY, TAB and BATCH, and a reference data set. The programs perform several
related tasks that allow the user to go from raw, disorganized data to
precisely calculated and statistically analyzed listings, cross-tabulations ,
and presentation graphics.
The principal uses of the software package are record maintenance,
anthropometric calculation and statistical analysis. Although there are
already many statistical analysis packages available, this one, developed by
the Division of Nutrition, Center for Health Promotion and Education at the
Centers for Disease Control, is customized for public health professionals.
The programs were made to operate on IBM-compatible micro-computers
including the portables. For field-oriented work there are enough features in
the software to operate a fully independent field site capable of
cross-tabulating 50,000 patient records.
The output files from ENTRY and BATCH are saved in a format that allows
them to be transmitted to mainframe and micro computers and used by other
statistical analysis programs.
A micro-computer operating under IBM DOS 2.1 or higher with a minimum of
256K and a dot matrix printer are the basic equipment. If you can get one, a
color monitor is recommended over a monochrome.
The next few pages describe in detail the capabilities of the three
programs in the package ENTRY, TAB and BATCH.
THE ENTRY PROGRAM
The ENTRY program is principally used for performing anthropometric
calculations and creating patient files. When given age, sex, height and
weight, the program returns the percentiles, z-scores, and percent of
medians for height/age, welght/age, and height/weight. These
calculations can be saved in a file named by the user with the patient’s
identification if desired. The program can manage 5000 records per file.
Also the user may create 24 additional fields to collect other data.
*
USER HANDBOOK
page 2
Among other features are:
1. a provision for weighting data
2. a probable error flag
3. the capability to search and separate all error-flagged records
or records with common characteristics
4. sub-setting and merging of files
5. listing by fields
THE TAB PROGRAM
The TAB program is used for making cross-tabulations of patient
records saved with ENTRY or converted from other sources with the BATCH
program. The user chooses three variables from a patient file and
divides them into intervals. The program presents the results on screen
or paper. The results can be saved and presented again for briefings or
reprints.
Among the major features are:
1. the capability to crosstabulate weighted data
2. histogram (bar graphs) for color monitor owners
3. save/recall features for tab results and intervals used for results
4. uniformly formatted printed tabulations with titles and footnotes
5. the capability to calculate cell-by-cell means on any numeric
variable
THE BATCH PROGRAM
The BATCH program is used to perform calculations and conversions
upon raw files of data called "batch files." Batch files can come from
mainframe computers or other PC software. If the batch file contains
enough information to derive the patient’s sex, age, height and weight,
you only have to provide column locAtiort of this information and the
files will be processed one after another without user interaction, The
finished files may be cross-tabbed with TAB and edited with ENTRY.
Among the major features are:
1. on/off filter for edit-flagged records
2. available printout of all flagged records
3. full graphic display of batch records and trial processing
4. field locations can be saved as a template for easy re-use
5. the capability to produce processed ASCII output files
USER HANDBOOK
page 3
HOW TO USE IHIS HANDBOOK AND SURVIVE THE LEARNING PROCESS
Much to the dismay of programmers and technical writers, the typical
computer user doesn’t like to read. Most over-anxious would rather jump
into a program and read the instructions after the damage is done.
Unfortunately, using this software package—successfully, at
least-- won’t be that simple. You must use this handbook if you intend
to be a proficient user.
This handbook is more of a tutorial than a reference manual. The
user performs the functions in the programs as he reads about them. The
handbook uses step-by-step examples. The user is expected to participate
as he reads. The user is expected to apply the experience gained from
using the handbook examples to real-world cases.
You will need a copy of the program diskette and the supplemental
diskette. Do not use your original diskettes.
If you have a computer with a non-removable hard disk, you should
have already created a directory and you should use your hard disk copy.
Ideally you should try all the exercises in the handbook. However the
applicability of all the material in the handbook may differ from user to
user.
FOR USERS WHO WILL ENTER DATA MANUALLY: Read Chapters 1 thru 3.
may read Chapter 4 and practice the examples for familiarity.
You
FOR ADVANCED USERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH MAINFRAME ACCESS OR BATCH
FILES: Read Chapter 4 first and move on to Chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Do not start in the middle of a chapter. To be fully proficient, you
must read and practice all the examples in each chapter.
page 4
USER HANDBOOK
CHAPTER I
USING THE ENTRY PROGRAM
To start the data entry and computation program, insert the program
COpied the programs to hard
diskette in drive A and type ----ENTRY. - If you have copied
disk, boot up in the usual manner and type ENTRY.
•
the first thing it will do is load up the growth
When the program starts,
- » After this is done and the menu
curve reference set from
in the disk file DATA, i—--- ---appears, you may remove the program diskette if you are using it on a floppy
disk drive.
The menu offers six choices. The last choice [6] Escape to DOS turns off
the program and returns the computer to its start-up state. (DOS stands for
Disk Operating System).
1.1 MAKING AN ANTHROPOMETRIC CALCULATION
Anthropometric calculations are performed in function [1] Data Entry and
Interactive Computation.
Press [1].
The program may be used as an anthropometric calculator or as a data entry
It’s called Interactive because it pauses for responses from the
program,
user.
First, get acquainted with the program by studying the screen. Notice how
many fields there are on the screen.
a few times and watch how the
Press the return/enter and backspace keys
triangular pointer moves from field to field. Make sure you use both the
understand what they do before you
enter <and backspace keys enough times to
continue.
The program needs to know HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SEX, and AGE ,in-order J:o;compute
for HEIGHT/AGE, WEIGHT/AGE,
the percentiles, z-scores and percent of median
of getting the four pieces of
and WEIGHT/HEIGHT. The program has several ways
information it needs.
NAME: name is an optional field,
has no affect on the computations.
SEX:
Some users require it, some don’t. It
the sex for boys can be either M, m, or 1
the sex for girls can be either F, f. or 2
USER HANDBOOK
page 5
When you start making your patient files you must be consistent.
only one of the symbols for each sex.
Use
Move the pointer to the sex field. Type 'M' and press return.
DffORTANT: Even the most careful user will make a typo error sooner
or later. With this program you can move the cursor to the error with
the cursor arrow keys, NOT BACKSPACE, and just type over the error. You
cannot move the cursor to the first character in the string. If you make
a mistake on the very first character you type in any field you must:
1. Go ahead and enter the mistake so you can get the field pointer
back on the screen.
2. Press the backspace key so the pointer will imove *_
back to the field
with the mistake, Don’t confuse the backspace key with the move-left
cursor arrow key. They ARE NOT the same thing to this program.
3. Retype the data for that field—carefully.
AGE: the aprogram
accept
ages years
in months
„ —will
------ --------mwiiutid,
or combinations
of both or by computing the time difference between VISIT DATE and
BIRTHDATE.
The proper formats for a birth and visit date are:
mm/dd/yy as in 07/26/86
yynnndd as in 860726
Both formats are valid for July 26, 1986. The computer will
recognize only these two formats for dates. V
When day is unknown, 00 or
99 may 'be used.
The program Assumes the 15th.
IMPORTANT: There is a difference between 'age unknown' and age ' 0
months
--- he.•’’ Do not use ’’n
— an unknown age. The age, visit date
O*’ to indicate
and birthdate fields must all be left blank to indicate an unknown age.
The only exception is '999.99' months which will be acceptedI as age
unknown.
When age is missing measurements are assumed to be recumbent below 85
cms and standing there after.
Move the pointer to the birthdate field and type exactly as shown:
06/15/83
P°inter t0 the
Uo/JU/oo
date field and type exactly as shown:
USER HANDBOOK
page 6
WEIGHT AND HEIGHT: the program will accept any number in these
fields. Zero or a null field is used for unknowns. The program defaults
to the metric measurements of kilograms and centimeters first, If you
wish to use pounds/ounces and feet/inches you may but it would serve no
purpose to mix centimeters and inches or kilograms and ounces.
For weight, move the pointer to the appropriate fields and type
36 (pounds)
2 (ounces)
For height, move the pointer to the appropriate fields and type
3 (feet)
2.5 (inches)
Don’t forget to press the return key after the last entry.
Double check your screen.
You should have entered:
SEX: M
BIRTH DATE: 06/15/83
VISIT DATE: 06/30/86
WEIGHT: 36 lbs, 2 ounces
HEIGHT: 3 ft, 2.5 inches
To process this record, press [*].
on the lowest line on the screen.
The instruction for this is also
Notice that the anthropometric indices were performed and quickly
returned. What happened was that the program plotted the patient on its
stored memory of growth curves and displayed the computed indices.
If the program put an [*]asterisk on the screen instead of processing
the data, it’s because you didn’t press [ret] after the last entry!
Do you think in metric or U.S, standard?
Study the results on the screen. Notice that pounds/ounces and
feet/inches aren’t displayed anymore. Users accustomed to U.S. standards
are probably wondering why the program no longer showed the height and
weight measurements after it computed the anthropometric indices.
USER HANDBOOK
page 7
The package was compiled with the display default
permanently set to
metric. Metrics are much more precise and easier
to
calculate
than U.S.
standard. The growth curve reference data is in
metric.
With
the
default set as it is,, all the data associated
with anthropometric
measures must be entered in metric.
If this does not fit your purpose you may change the default
to U.S.
standard very easily by going back to the main
- ~
-—menu (Press [Esc]
escape). tjk
opportunity to chLigeUfromGme?rir-a
ln "menu
e?U on the
y°U
the
to U.S. or back to metric by just
pressing ’U’ or ’M’ on your keyboard.
If you choose U.S. then all r-your anthropometric outputs will
be in
pounds/ounces and feet/inches. You will stay In U.S.
standard
until
you
stop the program or press 'M' while at the main menu.
Measurements must be input in the same mode you selected for output.
In other words,‘ don,t select to display the output in U.S. mode if you
are inputting your data in metric, This will cause confusion if you
choose to edit or re-enter data.
1.2 EDITING YOUR ENTRIES
What if you look at the results on the screen and discover that your
patient data is incorrect?
and start over, or
incorrect.
At the bottom of the r*screen,
—
three options are presented. [RET], as
stated above, will clear the
-‘..J screen, [Esc] will take you back to the
menu, and any other key will bring back the
--J pointer and allow you to
re-enter any field.
Assume that «age
v is incorrect and that the
error was caused by a
faulty visit date. Let’s assume that the patient
was really visited on
05/30/86 instead of 06/30/86.
To correct that error:
1. Press iany key (except return
or backspace) to get the pointer back
on the screen.
2. Press [RET] or the backspace key to move the pointer to the visit
date field.
3. Type and enter the new date (05/30/86).
4. Press [*] to process the data for the
—~ anthropometric indices.
You will notice f-Change^in the computed age. Also, there have been
some changes in the indices for weight/age
*
' ! and height/age. You could, if
you desired, use the entry program as a i
anthropometric calculator by
just changing the data in any fieldJ an indefinite number of
---times.
USER HANDBOOK
page 8
To invalidate fields (remove any data) blank out the field with
spaces.
1.3 EDIT FLAGS
Sooner or later, if you enter enough data, you'll see a message
called an Edit Flag, The words "EDIT FLAG" will appear flashing near the
display of computed anthropometric indices.
Assume that you accidentally entered 32.5 feet for height instead of
3 feet and 2.5 inches, There wouldn’t be any curve data for such an
extreme height so there would be and Edit Flag warning and unknowns as
indices for height/age and weight/height.
The Edit Flag warning flashes every time the patient data cannot be
plotted on any of its curves. Common causes of Edit Flags are:
1. No height or weight found in the record
2. No sex indicated
3. Illegal dates in the birth or visit fields
4. Computed ages over 18 years old
The computed indices will be percentiles of 999.99, z-scores of 9.99
and medians of 999.99. These are tokens for unknowns.
Sometimes actual patient data will cause an edit flag to occur.
There may be no errors in the data but still the Edit Flag appears and
there are real anthropometric indices on the screen.
You may still get an edit flag message if:
1. Patient’s weight and height are at some extreme that doesn’t fit
any of the reference curves.
2. The z-scores for weight/age and height/age are greater than 6 or
less than -6.
3. The z-score weight/height is less than -4 or greater than 6.
4. Boys are taller than 145 cms; girls are taller than 137 cms.
5. Boys are older than 138 months; girls are older than 120 months
1.4 MAKING PATIENT RECORD FILES
In the previous section of this booklet, you learned to use the entry
program as an anthropometric calculator without saving the results. You
learned how to correct an individual field and what causes an Edit Flag.
*
USER HANDBOOK
page 9
In this section you will learn how to make a file to hold patient
data and how to have even more fields than just name, sex, height,
weight, and age.
First you must go back to the main menu •
menu, if you haven’t already got it.
Press [Esc] to get the main
Press selection [3].
A small window appears, In the window you are prompted to create a
name for your file, Acceptable names are any combination of up to eight
alphabetic or numeric characters (no spaces). You must include the disk
drive upon which you intend to create the file and yoT~must not make“up
extensions for your file1 names. An example of a leeal
legal name is:
CsMYFILES. There is ’C’ as the disk drive, ffollowed by a colon,
and the file name. That is the only correct format.
PATIENTRECS is illegal because the name is too long.
C:NEWFILE,MDJ is illegal because
is an extension
---- there
---- _j
At this, time mount disk drive A and enter the name A:PRACTICE.
1.5 CREATING EXIRA CLASSIFICATION VARIABLES
A large window appears after you have entered the tname of the file.
“11^
In this window you may create the names of up to 24 new classification
variables. If you do not want extra variables then you may press [*]•
To familiarize you with the rules for extra variables, we’ll make a
few extra variables. Let’s assume that we need to collect data on race
or inationality, residence and mother’s age when the child was born.
That would be three extra classification variables, In the program they
are called user-selected variables.
All you have to do is type a short name for the field (no longer than
7 characters). Notice we're using the pointer again. Pressing return or
backspace will move the pointer to 24 stops in the window. This is to
allow you to go back and change• a name. Type and enter;
ETHNIC
REGION
#MAT AGE (for maternal age)
Notice that MAT AGE has a f# sign before it. The # sign means that any
information going into this field will
— be
—numeric,
------ . You could put numbers
in any of the other fields, too, but the computer would treat them as
words, instead of numeric values.
*
«
USER HANDBOOK
page 10
A $ sign is the opposite of a # sign. A $ sign means that the field
is an alphanumeric character field, We didn't use $ in front of ETHNIC
or REGION because when a field is created, the program assumes that it's
an alphanumeric character field. You don't have to type the $ sign
unless you are changing a numeric field to a character field.
If you make a mistake, remember from your practice with data entry
how to correct it; enter the mistake and move the pointer back to the
field with the backspace key.
When you have created all three labels press [*] to register them.
The disk drive will activate for a moment and then the menu will return.
You have now created a file called PRACTICE. If you look at the
disk's directory you will see PRACTICE.ETB . That is the file you have
created and there are three extra variable names stored with the file
name.
Right now the file is empty so we are going to put a few records in
it.
Press selection [1].
By now you are familiar with this screen. One of the choices shown
in the line menu at the bottom of the screen is [/] ACTIVATE A FILE.
Press [/] (that's the slash on the same key with the question mark).
A prompt appears in the top left corner of the screen, The program
wants to know what file you are opening. You must answer this prompt
with the DISK DRIVE DESIGNATION and the FILE NAME, Since you want the
practice file you must type and enter:
A .-PRACTICE (Later, when you are making your own files, you may
replace the ’AT with whatever disk drive you wish to use).
Notice that your extra classification fields have appeared near the
bottom.
Before we enter data in your new file, let's assume that you've
decided you really need more than just these three fields. It's not too
late to add more.
1. Press [Esc] to get back to the menu.
2. Choose selection [3] as if you were creating a new file.
3. Type and enter A:PRACTICE.
The program detects that there is already a file called PRACTICE so
it will present the current list of extra variables.
USER HANDBOOK
page 11
At this point you may add more variables, over-strike and change the
name of a current variable, or delete a variable by using the space bar.
For this exercise, 7let’s add POLIO and MEASLES (for vaccination
recording) as extra fields,
—. Remember, press [ret] after the last entry
and press [*].
Rules for creating variables are simple. You don’t need to memorize
them right away, but you will need to know them when you are through
practicing and you start making files of your own.
1. Extra classification fields are five columns long. (This is
permanently fixed.) You may have 24 extra classification fields.
2. A field label can be seven characters long. /Anything
‘
beyond seven
will be truncated, The # and $ signs are not counted as part of the
length.
3. A # sign at the beginning of a field label means that the field
will contain numeric information.
4. A $ sign at the beginning of a field cancels a # sign. You would
use a $ sign to switch a numeric field back to an alphanumeric character
field.
1*6 ENTERING RECORDS INTO PATIENT FILES
Go back to the menu if it isn’t already there.
Decide now whether you want metric or U.S. (Press U for U.S. or M for
metric.)
Press selection [1].
j
The data entry screen appears.
To get records into a file you must have an opened file, One of the
choices at the bottom of the screen is [/] Activate a file.
Press [/].
In the upper left corner, the prompt FILE appears.
Mount a new formatted diskette in A drive then type and enter
A:PRACTICE (B or C drive will serve just as well if you prefer).
The extra variables now appear near the bottom of the screen.
Making patient records is a three-step process:
TYPE, PROCESS, SAVE.
page 12
USER HANDBOOK
TYPE in a name, sex, birthdate, visit date, weight, and height.
Follow the same pattern you used in interactive computation. Make up
information for the extra variables, too.
PROCESS by pressing [*].
beep). Read anthro indices.
Check for Edit Flag (accompanied by a
SAVE by pressing the return key to write the information to the
practice file. Each record takes up 221 bytes of disk space.
Perform these three steps for four example patients of your own.
Creating this file will get you accustomed to entering records.
You can see that, while this method of moving pointer type data entry
takes a little getting used to, it can be mastered with practice. Using
the [*] for processing may seem a bit odd, but it was selected because
there’s a [*] key in easy reach of the right little finger just above and
to the right of the space bar on most IBM-type keyboards (except the IBM
AT).
1.7 SETTING TABS
You probably don’t need to stop at every field on the screen, If you
are filling out birth and visit dates, you surely don’t need to stop at
age in month and years. Likewise, if you’re in the metric mode, you
don’t need to stop at pounds/ounces and feet/inches.
The pointer can be programmed to stop only at the fields you want to
fill out. Let’s assume you want to stop only at NAME/I.D., SEX, BIRTH,
VISIT, LBS, OZS, FT and IN. It would speed up data entry to have the
pointer stop only at those fields. To set tabs:
1. Move the pointer to the first field you wish to tab.
fields can be tabbed in any order!)
(By the way,
2. Press TAB (the double arrows next to the Q key). When a field is
tabbed, there is a beep, You cannot tab the user-created extra
classification variables. The logic assumed here is that you wouldn’t
have created the fields if you didn’t plan to fill them out.
3. When you have tabbed the chosen fields, press the caret character
[ ] (the symbol above the number 6). [ ] activates the tabs. This key
also unsets all the tabs. If you unset the tabs you’ll have to reset all
of them.
USER HANDBOOK
page 13
Now when you move the pointer from field to field it will only stop
at the fields you’ve tabbed.
Try entering four more records now that you have tabs,
how much more efficient using tabs can be.
You’ll see
1.8 SEARCHING AND VIEWING RECORDS
After you’ve entered several records or have had someone else do it
for you, it’s not easy to grasp the prevailing characteristics of these
patients as a group. This function is probably the most useful feature
for just getting acquainted with your records.
Get back to the main menu and press [2].
The first thing you must do is tell the computer what file you wish
to search. As always you do this by typing and entering a file name.
DON’T FORGET TO INDICATE DISK DRIVE BEFORE THE FILE NAME.
We will review your training file PRACTICE.
The data entry screen returns but this time it has a different
function. It’s used to search for specific kinds of records. You may
command the program to:
Find all records that were edit-flagged (press [0]).
Find all records that were not edit-flagged (press [#]).
Get all records flagged or not (press [*]).
Inclusive or exclusive search for very field-specific records (input
sought after info in field it is expected to be found and press [*]).
j
Press [*]
You are immediately told you have eight records (unless you made more
or less than instructed).
You have options for presenting the results of the search:
[1] and [2] allow you to make a listing of the records on the screen
or the printer. This is the way to dump the records but in an orderly
formatted manner with only the fields you choose to see.
Press [2] if you have a printer on line or [1] if you don’t.
If you are going to use your printer, set the paper so that the print
head starts on the first line of the page.
♦
USER HANDBOOK
page 14
You are presented with a list of the fields in your records. You
select the field you wish to see by the corresponding number, typing and
entering each number one at a time.
Select NAME/ID
AGE
SEX
ETHNIC
REGION
W/H percentile
H/A percentile
Press return alone or type and enter ’0’ to begin listing.
When the listing is on the screen, the screen displays twenty records
at a time. When the listing is on the printer, the printer writes fifty
records per page. Each page will have a header and page number.
The search results menu returns after the printer has finished.
Selection number [3] on the menu allows you to look at a patient’s
total record. Press [3].
The data entry screen is back again but this time it displays the
first record and the anthropometric indices. To examine other records in
the file, you may press return to see the next record, backspace to see
the previous record, or type and enter the record number you wish to see.
A counter in the upper right corner shows you which record you are
viewing. The record numbers apply to the index of records that fit the
search, not to the record’s physical location on the disk. In this case,
they are the same only because all the records fit the search criteria.
Your printed listing of selected fields serves as an index. The
consecutive numbers in the leftmost column correspond to the record
selected for viewing on the screen.
1.9 EDITING RECORDS
You can perform editing functions on a record while you have it up on
the data entry screen. Along the bottom of the screen you will see a
small menu for selection of functions.
Press [E] for edit.
You will see that the pointer has returned,
to any field and change the data.
You can move the pointer
USER HANDBOOK
page 15
Move the pointer to the SEX field and change the data to the opposite
sex.
Keep your eye on the anthropometric indices and press [*].
Notice that the anthropometric indices changed slightly. Not only
did they change on the screen but the change in sex and indices were also
written to the file. You have just edited a record.
As long as the pointer is still on the screen, you are in the edit
mode and able to change any item in a patient’s record. Pressing [*]
will process the record for any changes in the anthropometric indices and
write it to the file. If you wish, you may change the entry in the sex
field again and watch the anthropometric indices change again when you
press [*].
Just like in data entry, the edit routine will detect probable errors
and flash EDIT FLAG. If you get an edit flag, remember it will be
written on the record that way until you change it.
1.10 DELETING RECORDS FROM FILE
[D] is for delete.
It works very simply. If you put a record on the screen and push
[D], you erase the record, The record doesn’t really disappear from the
disk. A special byte of information is written to the record and you
won’t have access to the record anymore. It’s still out there taking up
space. If you had a file of 1000 records and you deleted the second one,
it would take too long to pull all the records back one address to cover
the gap.
There are other procedures you can use to ’tighten up’ your files
after a lot of deleting. Merging or sub-setting files automatically cause
records coded as ’deletable’ not to be copied. If you do a lot of
deleting, be sure to read the section 1.12 Transferring and Subsetting
Files.
1.11 MAKING FIELD-SPECIFIC INCLUSIVE AND EXCLUSIVE SEARCHES
Besides being able to separate edit-flagged from non-edit-flagged
records, you can search and separate records based on criteria as
specific as ’all children from village XYZ who were vaccinated against
measles and had w/h percentiles over 70 and were under 60 months old’.
To perform such searches you must escape to the results display
selection menu. Press [Esc] if you are still in the edit/review/delete
mode. We could press [5] for New search but we are going to use a larger
file so we have something substantial on which to experiment.
USER HANDBOOK
page 16
Press [Esc] until you get back to the main menu.
Press [2] for Edit and Search
We will use a practice file called SAMPLE.
It was supplied with your
supplemental files diskette. Fetch it from the diskette,
By now you
should know that you always specify the disk drive
along
with
the file
name •
Weare going to find all males, between 12 and 36 months who are
between the 40th
and1 80th percentile for height and
'----age, and whose
birthweights were between 1800 and 6700 grams at birth.
1. Move the pointer to the sex f
field and input "M"
2. Move the pointer to the months
— field
-- and input ”12"
After T
" pressed the return key.
you
noticed that the pointer stayed
at the months field, Because months isyoua numeric
field the program
expects a lower and upper range. 12 was the lower range. 36 will be the
upper range and you will enter it in the months field.
3. Input 36 as the upper
i--;-- 7 range in the months field.
4. Move the pointer to
-- the
—- h/a percentile area in the indices
display bars.
nput 40 as the lower range, press return, and enter 80.99
as the upper range. Press return to get the pointer back.
5.
area
BIRTHWT fleld ±n the eXtra classification
fields
Zr
P01"^r
.
to a # sign. This is a
reminder that the information
: this field is mathematic and will
------ 1 in
require you to input a lower
-- and upper numeric range.
Type and enter 1800.
That is the lower range.
The # sign will stay fixed at the BIRTHWT field. Type and enter
6700. That is the upper range.
6. Press [*].
The prompt [I] INCL [E] EXCL appears near the top right corner of
the screen. This prompt asks if
your search will be INCLUSIVE, meaning
children within or equal to the search
ccrch specifications or EXCLUSIVE,
meaning children outside of or not equal to the search specifications.
For this search to find the patients we've describe the search will
have to be inclusive. Type and enter the letter [I].
The disk drive is activated as the program searches each record
to
see if it fits the search criteria. In the
upper right corner of the
screen you will see a pair of numbers, The number ascending on the left
tells how many records were searched, The number ascending on the right
is the number of records found that fit the search criteril.
*
USER HANDBOOK
page 17
When the program has searched all the records you will be told how
many records fit the search criteria and a menu to select how you want to
view the results of the search.
If you choose to look at the records individually or list them out on
the printer or the screen, you will see that all the records found are
all males between 12 and 36 months old, with h/a percentiles between 70
and 80.99, and weight between 1800 and 6700 grams at birth.
If the search had been [E] Exclusive, the computer would have found
children who did not fit within the search described above, Exclusive
searching allows the users search two sides of a curve simultaneously.
1.12 TRANSFERRING AND SUB-SETTING FILES
•x You may put 5000* patients into a single file. You cannot fit 5000
records on a diskette (unless using a 1.2 mb high-density drive) but you
could keep that many records in a single file if you had a hard disk.
Rarely are users interested in all their records at once. The typical
user, for instance, may only want to concentrate on the abnormal patients
or patients fitting a narrow classification.
Using option [4] Transfer Subset to a New File, you can make a new
file of the records you’ve found during a search. We recently identified
a number of 1, 2 and 3-year-old males between the 70th and 80th
percentile for height-for-age who weighed between 1800 and 6700 grams at
birth.n We could copy them to a new file very easily.
On the Search Results Menu press [4].
You are prompted to make up a name. Let’s call this group of patients
A:GROUP 1. Indicate a disk dri^ve and type A:GROUP 1.
After you press the return key, the program will write a copy of the
records that fit this search to the file GR0UP1.
This will be a fully independent patient file that can be searched,
edited and added to just like the file it came from.
Note: You could use this function to copy an entire file for back-up.
To do this you would fetch all records instead of making a field-specific
search and then use the transfer function to copy all of the records into
another file.
In the section on DELETING RECORDS, it was mentioned that none of the
deleted records were ever really erased—just specially coded so you
couldn’t access them.
*The program was designed to manage 5000 records at a time. Attempts to
save more than 5000 records per file may bring unpredictable results.
USER HANDBOOK
page 18
They are still taking up space on the file, If you’ve deleted more
than a few records, you can use this function to ’tighten-up’ your file,
The records coded as deleted will not be transferred to the new file.
1.13 SAMPLE WEIGHTS
In more complex tabulations some users find it vnecessary to ’weight*
their data.
7 some instances the user determines that i
--- . In
— c a specific group
of respondents to a survey are under-or over-represented.
By using sample weights in the ENTRY program you cause a special
field to be written on each record. In that field you may place any
number that will fit in five columns or less (e.g. .0025, 1.276 45.1).
When the file is cross-tabulated or tallied in some way by another
program, each patient will represent one times whatever value is in the
sample weight field.
To demonstrate, we will weight the records in the practice file you
made earlier.
Make sure you are at the main menu, then press [4].
When you receive the prompt for a file name, enter the disk drive
designator and the name of the file.
The first thing you are told is that your practice file has no
provision for weighting data. This is nothing to be concerned about*
This means there is no sample weight field in the records at present, but
you can have one.
Press [2] to create the sample weight field.
Immediately you have your field. There is another prompt in the
window. From here you could [1] go back to the menu or [2] continue
which means now that you've established a sample weight field you could
apply the weights.
There are two ways to weight your data. TYou
7
could go back to the
menu, use the edit function and individually weight: every record one at a
time • Now that the field exists as
. part- of your record, it would be very
easy to edit in the numbers just as you would
--- edit
-- j any other field. This
would be a very slow process.
*
USER HANDBOOK
page 19
The second and most efficient way is to ’’describe" to the program
which records require weighting and what that weight should be.
Press [2] to continue.
You are given three choices:
1 apply one weight to all records.
2 apply weight to selected records
3 change old weight to new weight
With selection [1] you can give all the records the same weight. To
demonstrate this function we will apply the weight of 1 to all records.
Press [1].
You are asked to enter what weight is to be applied to all records.
Type and enter 11’.
The disk drive activates, and you may actually hear the head writing
the number 1 to the sample weight
.j. field
-- -j on every record. We will look at
the results as soon as the computer finishes writing on every record.
The menu will return after the process is complete.
When the menu is back on the screen
i
’
" function [2],
'
use the
edit
give
the name of the practice file, call in all your records (by pressing
[*]), and select [3] to view every record individually.
Look in the user-selected* classification variables. The last field is
’@SW’. @SW is a very specific label. The computer is programmed to
recognize only that label as a^ sample weight field. Notice that every
record has a ’1’ in that field.
Go back to the menu.
Select [4]. We will demonstrate the third function in sample
weighting. When you get the prompt for
‘ja file name, reply with the
practice file you just finished weighting.
Select [3].
With this function you must search for
"
...
the
kind- of- records you plan
to weight. To specify the records, you use the same methods used to
perform a field-specific search. For a simple example, assume you want
to apply the weight of .75 to all males.
USER HANDBOOK
page 20
1. Move the pointer to the SEX field. Type and enter ’M’.
2. Press [*] .
Just as in field-specific searching previously demonstrated in this
chapter, the search for males or any other characteristic could be
inclusive or exclusive. You have to specify inclusive by typing and
entering [I].
After finding all the males in the file, you are prompted to give the
weight to be applied.
3. Type and enter .75
The program proceeds and writes '.75' in the sample weight field of
the records of every male in the file.
You can confirm this by using the edit function to view each record
individually.
The second feature in the sample weight function is changing one
sample weight to another.
First, go back, to the main menu and select [4] again. FReply to the
prompt with the practice file name and select feature number [2].
?Sks for the old welSht—that is the number it ’s
suppose to find and change.
~ • For this example type and input
The next prompt asks for the inew weight. In other words, the computer
wants to know what it should change
J ’‘1
I’’ into. Reply with ’1.333’
After you have answered that prompt, the program will tell the
computer to search for and change all ’I’s to ’1.333’.
Sample weighting has no influence on f..
_
the computed
anthropometric
indices. The only time the sample weight influences
------ j any process in the
package is in cross-tabulation. The TAB pz
~
program
will detect weighted
data. During tabulation, each record that- fits
the cross-tab will not be
-------counted as one, but instead it will count for the value in the sample
weight field.
There are a few considerations you’ll want to remember when using
sample weights.
1. Sample weights are an extra variable counted as one of the 24
allowed user-selected classification variables. 7
You cannot have a sample
weight field if you’ve already created 24 extra variables^
2. You can create a jsample weight at the same time you create your
other extra fields by just using the label ’@SW’. Remember that the ’S’
and ’W’ must be capital letters.
USER HANDBOOK
page 21
3. Once you’ve created a sample weight field you are obligated to
give every record a weighted value—even if that value is ’!’. Without a
value in the sample weight field, the record counts for zero during
cross-tabulation. It is recommended that all weighted records be
assigned a value of ’1' before weighting any specific groups.
1.14 MERGING FILES
Merging files in the entry program is the process of taking several
like files and tying them together. If several people are working on the
same project from different work stations, it might be useful to merge
the separate files before cross-tabulating them.
You may never need to merge a file but the function is there if you
do.
To begin merging files, press [5] on the main menu.
A window will appear. In this window you must list the disk drives
and file names of the files you intend to merge. After the last file
name has been entered, press [*] to go to the next step.
The merged files will be kept under a different name • The next
prompt asks what you wish the name of the merged files to be. YOU CANNOT
USE ONE OF THE NAMES OF THE FILES YOU ARE MERGING FOR THE NEW NAME.
As the files are merged, you see two numbers appear beside the file
names in the window, The left number is how many records are coming from
the file being merged, The right number is total number of records
written to the new file.
If any of the files you’ve listed are incorrectly named or
non-existent, the process will stop and prompt you to make a correction.
If your merger causes more than 5000 records to be written to the new
file, an overflow file called TEMP.ETB will be automatically created.
TEMP.ETB will contain the excess. It is important that you change
TEMP.ETB’s name since it will be over-written next time this situation
occurs.
'' If you would like to test this function, make a few files with a few
records in them and merge them.
USER HANDBOOK
page 22
CHAPTER II
USING THE TAB PROGRAM
What can this Tabulation program do?
Cross-tabulations are the documents that support and illustrate the
health professional’s conclusions. BATCH and ENTRY are basically the
tools for collecting the research data. TAB is the program that presents
the findings of that research.
The Anthropometric Statistical Package will make a three-dimensional
cross-tabulation using any three variables in an ETB file created with
BATCH or ENTRY.
Because of the considerable amount of time involved in making a
cross-tab, Version III has been enhanced so that the user may:
1. save the results of a cross-tab and present it or print it as
many times as desired.
2. create a library of frequently used tabulation intervals.
3. create
c
' a cross-tab, replace any variable, change any interval
and rerun
---1 as new cross-tab.
4. batch load up to ten ETB files for one cross-tab.
Completely new in Version III is the capability to present the
results of a cross-tab as a bar graph or histogram as it is often called*
The histogram is a feature recommended only for users with color monitors
or monochrome monitors compatible with color option cards.
Every effort has been made to make Version III of the Tab program the
most flexible and iuser-friendly program in the package. In order to get
the most
out of the program you must carefully follow the instructions
--- -provided in this chapter.
2.1 PLANNING A CROSS-TABULATION
To start the program, boot up the computer, Insert the Program
Diskette (if you’re not using a hard disk copy) and enter the word TAB.
The principle product of the TAB program is a three-dimensional
cross-tabulation. It’s called three-dimensional because the tabulation
has width in the form of columns across the page, height in the form of
rows going down the page, and depth in the number of pages to the
tabulation.
You cannot pull a cross-tab out of nowhere, With 16 permanent
variables and up to 24 extra classification variables, there are hundreds
of possible combinations for a cross-tabulation.
USER HANDBOOK
page 23
It may be helpful to rough draft your cross-tabulation on plain paper
before you start choosing variables and defining intervals.
Each dimension represents one of three variables you choose from a
patient file. Each variable is then broken into intervals. The second
element in a cross-tabulation are the intervals of the three variables.
The maximum number of intervals depends on what dimension the
variable occupies. The allowed number of intervals for each dimension are:
1. COLUMN
2. ROW
3. PAGE
(maximum 8 intervals)
(maximum 6 intervals)
(maximum 14 intervals)
There are a few steps to making a cross-tabulation.
You must first:
STEP 1.
Prepare a ’’template” of the variables and their intervals.
STEP 2.
Choose what file(s) will be cross-tabulated against the
template.
STEP 3.
Perform the tabulation and save the results.
STEP 4.
Display, print or graph the results.
Provided with the supplemental files diskette is an ETB file called
SAMPLE. This will be our practice file.
2.2 THE INTERVAL TEMPLATE
You must start with STEP 1, choosing variables and making intervals*
Variables don’t come out of thin air. Any variables in an ETB patient
file can be used in cross-tabulation but the program has no way of
detecting what those variables could be if it has never "seen" the file.
While the menu is present (it’s present whenever the word SELECT is
blinking), press [5] Create or Edit Tab Intervals.
You are prompted to give the name of an ETB file so the program can
"look” at the available variables. Reply with A:SAMPLE (or B:, or C:
depending where you put the package’s supplemental files diskette).
Notice the windows descending across the screen. You are told how
many variables are available to you and that there is one window each for
COLUMN, ROW, and PAGE.
USER HANDBOOK
page 24
let’s look at the variables. You can do this by pressing the
First, rets
spacebar or the backspace key. DO -®--NOT----PRESS ANYTHING ELSeT BUT THESE
TWO
KEYS. You will see all the variables in the file appear one at a time,
Keep using the spacebar and backspace keys until you have seen all the
variables.
We are going to choose the first variable, Press the spacebar or the
backspace key until you reach the variable AGE.
Press the return key. ”
___
You ’have chosen
AGE as your Column variable*
The pointer has moved to the Row window.
Just as you did in the Column window, find the variable W/HZile and
press the return key.
Just as you did in the Row window, find the variable STATE but do
not press return.
——
You have chosen the three variables,
press [*].
To register these variables,
The
is now
the window tor
for the Column dimension. Hold your
xu. pointer x*
uuw in Loe
finger down
J~- 1 on the return key and watch the pointer imove through the
windows. The pointer can move
only eight
move to
to all
all the
the windows
windows but
but will
will make
makeonly
eight
stops in this window—meaning you can have eight intervals of AGE.
Type and enter EXACTLY AS SHOWN
*
0-23(Under 2)
24-35(2 yrs)
36-47(3 yrs)
48-59(4 yrs)
60-71(5 yrs)
Press the enter key until the pointer is in the Page dimension window*
Type and enter
0-5.00(5th -)
5•01-94(NORMAL)
95-100(95th +)
Move the pointer to Page dimension.
Type and enter:
USER HANDBOOK
page 25
A(NY)
B(PA)
C(NJ)
D(VT)
For reasons of privacy the true identity of states A, B, C and D have
been deleted. NY, PA, NJ, and VT are not the actual states. They are
merely examples. You may use other initials for states.
Press [*]
Another window appears near the bottom of the screen. You_ are
__ given
2.
the opportunity to choose one of the numeric variables in the file for
calculation as an accumulated mean.
You may use the spacebar or the return key to see all the variables
in the patient file that are numeric (including the user selected extra
variables).
When you have reached BIRTHWT (birth weight) stop and press [*].
What we have done is tell the program to read the birth weights of
every patient fitting the cross-tabulation and, in background, calculate
the average birth weight for every cell.
The next prompt asks whether or not we want to include the sample
weight factor in counting the patients. This window appears only if
there is a sample weight field in the patient file from which you
selected to choose the variables.
Your reply to this question will be [Y]
The menu returns. We have made the cross-tabulation template. This
was a simple example but it could have been a very involved procedure.
You could have had eight columns, six rows and 14 pages. It would not be
pleasant to make one of these templates every time you needed to
cross-tabulate a file. Therefore you should save it.
Press [1] Save Tabulation Intervals.
You are prompted to provide a disk drive and name. Since the file we
read to get the variables was called SAMPLE, we shall also name the
interval template SAMPLE. The SAMPLE template will automatically be
assigned the extension INT. DO NOT USE EXTENSIONS OF YOUR OWN.
USER HANDBOOK
page 26
Before we continue, we <are going
*
to go *back and look at the intervals
you entered. We are going to study the rules of their
structure because
the only way you will ever get the cross-tabulation
— -------- 1 you want is to know
how the program will interpret what you have entered.
Let's dissect the interval 0-23(Under 2)
It has three parts:
the bottom range [0]
the top range [23]
the user label [(Under 2)]
the bottom range and top range are always separated by a hyphen.
Since age is a numeric field it requires a bottom and top range.
The program interprets 0-23 as C0 thru
*
and- including
23.99. The
program will apply .99 to the top range
of
all
whole
„
------- number
--------- ‘ numeric
intervals.
The program will apply .09 to the upper range of all numeric
intervals that <are precise to the nearest tenth (e.g. 25.3) would be
interpreted by the program as 25.39.
The program will not add .99 or .09 if the top range of an interval
that is explicitly precise to 1two decimals (e.g. 12.55 will be
interpreted as 12.55 because of the two decimal precision),
23 would be
interpreted as 23.99 but 23.00 would remain 23.00 because the user was
explicit about the decimal precision, The bottom range in this interval
is not changed.
The program recognizes the mathematical c
r
L
operators
<, >, =>, and <«.
There is important information in Appendix A about
I
.J the effects of using
these operators. You don’t need to read it now, but: YOU WILL NEED THE
INFORMATION IN APPENDIX A FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. COPY IT!
When making intervals for non-numeric variables such as SEX and the
character-type extra variables, you must use intervals that precisely
match the information you are looking for.
In our SAMPLE file we are looking for STATE and the intervals are A,
B, C, and D. We didn't type the actual state names because none of the’
state names are in the fields for STATE in any of the records. ABC
or D are the letters in the STATE field so that is what the intervals
should be.
The same would apply to SEX. If you have 1 and 2 in the
fields for SEX then that is what you will type as the intervals. You may
also apply a descriptive label if desired such as l(Male) and 2(Female)
so that the report will read more clearly to someone else.
USER HANDBOOK
page 27
«
How can you be sure you’ll get what you asked for?
Typing those intervals and getting them right the first time is going
to take experience. There is a way to check and see precisely how the
computer interpreted your intervals.
Press [5] Edit and Create Intervals.
The variables and the intervals come back on the screen.
At this time TURN ON YOUR PRINTER. Press [?] and you will see a
printout of the ranges the computer is using to tabulate the patient
records.
It is not a particularly neat printout, It’s a raw unformatted
technical readout of exactly what values the program is using. You must
read it as is.
2.3 EDITING INTERVAL TEMPLATES
Any interval template can be edited. If it is already in the
computer’s memory you can [Esc] Escape back to the menu, press [5] and
re-edit the template. If you don’t know whether or not there is a
template in working memory, look at the menu. If there is a ninth
selection then there is a template in the computer’s working memory.
You can recall and edit a stored template, too.
1. First you’d have to press [9] (Clear memory) and recall the
interval template by name with selection [3] on the menu.
2. Once the interval template is in memory, press [5] to display it.
Use the spacebar to change the variables, press return to select them
and [*] to move to intervals. You can re-type the intervals or delete
them with spaces.
3. After you have edited the template, you can save them under the
former name or make a new name.
2.4 PERFORMING THE CROSS-TABULATION
If you have made a useful template you are ready to perform the
cross-tabulation. The template should be in working memory. If not,
recall the template SAMPLE with selection [3].
USER HANDBOOK
page 28
Press [6] Perform a cross-tabulation.
The window
for listing files will appear on the right side of the
„
screen, Here you may list up to ten files. With each file having a
capacity of 5000 records, you have the potential for cross-tabulating
50,000 patients.
We have one file, Therefore we would enter A:SAMPLE on the first
line • After you press enter the pointer will move down to the next
line. Since we have no more files, press [*].
The screen changes to a display similar to a spreadsheet. It is a
spreadsheet of sorts, But with this spreadsheet you can monitor the
results of a cross—tabulation in progress.
Press the spacebar.
Notice that numbers are rapidly appearing or changing on the screen.
This is page one of the cross-tabulation. Press the press bar again and
you will see the progress
j---on page two. fPress the spacebar everytime you
wish to monitor a different
------- * Page of the cross—tabulation.
The cross tabulation is complete when PAGE appears in the lower
left corner
the
-- of screen.
There are four percentage calculation modes. They are PAGE, ROW,
COLUMN and GLOBAL. The mean birthweights we collected can be seen
through the MEAN mode. A list of the pages in the tabulation can be seen
in the LIST mode. In all you have six selections: [P], [R], [c], [G],
[M] and [Lj. Pressing the first letter of each
---- selection
------- 1 name calls the
selected mode.
1
*
Press [R] (to select the ROW mode) then press and enter [1] (for page
1).
The numbers appearing on the screen show the number of patients in
each cell, The percentage numbers show the distribution of patients by
row. Each row stands alone as 100 percent.
Press [C] then press and enter [1].
The percentage of distribution is now shown by column.
Press [P] then press and enter [1].
The percentage of distribution is now shown for the entire page.
*
USER HANDBOOK
page 29
a
Press [G]
Note that the word GLOBAL is in inverse video.
Press [2] and enter.
Notice that we are on page 2 and the percentage of the final total is
not 100 percent. It is less than 100 percent because the calculations
were made based on a total which included every patient from all Daces
This a GLOBAL TOTAL of page 2.
Press [M].
MEAN BIRTHWT is in inverse video.
4) and press enter.
Select any page number (1, 2, 3 or
You will see the average birth weight for each cell.
You could go on :indefinitely
’ "
comparing the Global and Page totals and
the mean birth weights of these patients, r
------BUT
YOU SHOULD
SAVE YOUR
RESULTS FOR SAFEKEEPING AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE.
”
----------- You can escape the
cross-tabulation spreadsheet by pressing the [Esc] key. [Esc] brings
back the menu. Pressing [4] on the menu will bring back the spreedsheet.
2.5 SAVING CROSS-TABULATION INTERVALS
Press [2] save tabulation results.
A window appears and you are prompted to provide a name for the
results. You could call the results any eight-character iname you choose
but for the sake of continuity you may consider giving the results the
same name as the patient file, f^The extension TAB will be assigned to the
results file so there will be no
with SAMPLE
ETB the
no chance
chance of
of confusion
confusion with
SAMPLE.ETB,
patient file and SAMPLE.INT^ the interval template.
~ °
?
2.6 PRINTING THE CROSS-TABULATION
The cross-tabulation you've performed still sits in memory until you
press [9] Clear memory on the main main menu. You should always save the
interval template and the results of the tabulation.
Press [7] Print/Graph cross-tabulation
If there are no results in working memory, you will be prompted to
retrieve some from your library of tabulation results. Tabulation results
have the extension TAB but you must not include the extension when
answering the prompt.
USER HANDBOOK
page 30
You will receive a print menu.
The report may be printed to show relative percentages several ways •
1.
[C] The Column Mode. Each column total is 100%. The
percentages for the cell figures are relative to the column
total.
2.
[R] The Row Mode. Each row total is 100%. The percentages for
the cell figures are relative to the row total.
3.
[G] The Global Mode. N
all the patients in the report. The
page total percentage is always a portion of the whole
population.
4.
[P] The Page Mode. N = the total number of patients on a given
page. The page total is always 100% and all figures on that
page reflect each figures percentage of the page total.
5.
[M] The Mean Mode. The number of patients in each cell is
accompanied by the mean of whatever numeric variable was chose
for mean calculation.
6.
[H] Histogram. Histograms are available but will be discussed
in greater detail in the next chapter.
You may select any of these modes (except Histogram).
The user may select a two-line title. The title is optional. If no
title is desired, press [ret] key. To delete a previous title (titles are
saved with tabulation results), input one space. You cannot change just
a part of the title. Titles must be completely retyped for any changes.
Footnotes may also be added to the bottom of the printed report. You
are allowed three lines for footnotes. If footnotes are not desired,
press return three times. To delete previous footnotes (footnotes are
saved with tab results), input a space for each line before pressing
[ret] key. You can change one line of the footnotes without affecting
the other lines.
If the tabulation results you are going to print come from the
working memory and have not been stored, the program will automatically
store your results in a file called TEMP.TAB. You can change the name of
TEMP later (See your DOS manual). If you do not change the name of
TEMP.TAB it will be overwritten the next time you attempt to print a
cross-tabulation that was not saved.
If you change or add a title or footnote, the program will update
your results file.
The printing begins automatically. Make sure your printer is on. To
cancel the printout press [Esc].
USER HANDBOOK
page 31
♦
CHAPTER III
MAKING AND USING HISTOGRAMS
Histograms—or bar charts-- are another way of viewing
cross-tabulation results. Your cross-tabulation printouts present cold
precise calculations. Histograms fall in the realm of presentation
graphics. Presentation graphics are often used to present data
symbolically—in this case as a bar chart. If you have no interest in
histograms, you may skip this chapter. None of the information is
necessary in using other parts of the software package.
NOTE: Graphic capabilities for this version were given a low
priority. It takes a lot of memory to perform graphics.
graphics, Not knowing how
useful the feature would be, two memory-saving measures were taken:
1. There is no output to ink-pen or dot matrix printers and plotters.
2. There is no adaptation for monochrome monitors.
The histogram feature is for desk, top presentation use only. If the
function becomes popular among users, direct plotter compatibility may be
developed in future versions.
3.1 WHERE TO BEGIN
Before you can make a histogram, you have to have something to graph*
You need data. The data comes from the results of a performed
cross-tabulation. The results may be either stored among your [.TAB ]
files on disk or still in memory from a recently performed
cross-tabulation. To speed things along, we have provided a set of tab
results with your supplemental files diskette. Pay close attention to
what you are doing in the demonstration and follow the instructions♦ You
will need to draw on your experience with this practice when graphing one
of your files.
/
3.2 FETCHING THE DATA
Get back to the main menu, Clear memory with selection 9 (if 9 is
present). Press selection [7].
You’ll be prompted to identify the tabulation result file you wish to
print or graph. Your answer will be A: (or whatever disk drive) DEMOTAB#
After the computer has fetched the file, you will get a report
overview, The overview is a very general summary of what’s in the
results. It reads that these results came from a tabulation performed on
a file of U.S patients. It shows the three variables in the report and
how many patients fit the cross-tabulation; approximately 2.9 million.
The data were weighted. No one actually interviewed nearly 3 million
patients.
Also it shows that a mean W/H percentile was collected.
2-0 0
0^9-8
<S!
Oz
>
USER HANDBOOK
page 32
The next prompt asks whether or not you want a printout or a
histogram. Before we jump into making histograms, we need some
cross-tabulation printouts for reference.
Answer the prompt with [P] and enter.
The printout menu appears. You will need the [C] Column Total
printout and the [M] mean H/A z-score printout. They are four pages
long. Turn on your printer and make them both at this time.
When you have the printouts, study them briefly. You’ll see that the
report is about the distribution of W/H z-scores in children up to 5
years old in four different states. The Mean printout shows the average
W/H z-scores for each of the cells.
Keep the printout close by. You will need them for reference.
3.3 MAKING THE HISTOGRAM
When the program has returned you to the menu, press [7] again.
This time, select [H] from the menu.
The screen changes immediately to the bar graphics display screen.
The only thing on the screen is a percentage scale on the left edge and a
small menu in the lower right hand corner.
The tabulation results data is in working memory in a
three-dimensional array, But this bar graph is only two-dimensional. It
has Only an x and y axis, You’ll have to choose the two variables for
each axis yourself.
Press [1] Set axis.
The variables (or three sides—row, column, page) in the array are
presented. The first axis to be chosen will be the X axis. The X axis
is for the labels that go along the bottom of the screen.
For this demonstration, choose [3] STATE.
The next prompt asks for the variable you want to be the bars (the Y
axis)• For this demonstration, select [1] W/H z-score.
You may see the word STANDBY flash briefly. This is not something
you should be concerned with. The program is letting you know there will
be a delay while it shuffles around some figures internally.
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USER HANDBOOK
The only variable left is AGE which was not chosen for either axis*
You'll notice in the printed reports that age was broken up into five
groups. We may chose to look at one of the age groups or combine the age
groups just as the printed reports do on the bottom line of each page.
For this demonstration, we will [2] combine the ages.
Now that you’ve positioned all the variables you must select the
intervals you wish to see.
Press [2] LABELS.
Since we chose STATE as the X axis, we are presented with a list of
available states. There are four, but let's look at only the first
three; Georgia, Texas and Alabama*.
You must choose the three states one at a time by corresponding
number. Press [ret] after each choice. To indicate that you have
finished choosing, press [ret] without inputting a number.
Notice that as you chose each state, its label appeared along the X
axis.
After choosing all the three states, you are presented the list of
intervals in the W/H z-score variable. We are going to choose six of
seven groups: 1,2,3,5,6 & 7.
Enter each number one at a time,
groupings are chosen.
Press [ret] alone when all six
A color code appeared as you selected each label. The numbers
accompanying them are showing how many thousand of children fit into that
label (e.g. The total number of children equal to or below -2 W/H z-scote
is 10,000 for the 3 states selected).
You may have also noticed a working title at the top of the screen^
It shows that you are comparing the W/H percentiles in three different
states combining all the age groups. The number 2982 followed by the
letter K indicates thousand (2.9 million children).
WHENEVER THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN A REPORT EXCEED 1 MILLION,
ALL NUMBERS ARE REPRESENTED TO THE NEAREST THOUSAND.
Press [4] EXECUTE.
EXCUTE means 'draw something.’ Now it should be very clear what you
have been building up to. Each grouping of bars stands alone as a 100%
population—just like your Row Total printout. The percentages
represented on the screen are the same percentages you will find on the
bottom lines of the first three pages in the report.
*The states are hypothetical.
USER HANDBOOK
The bars aren’t very tall. None exceeds 40%.
than you need. So let’s change the scale first.
page 34
A 100Z scale is more
Press [5] SCALE.
You have a list of five pre—set scales or you can make your own with
selection 6. Let’s choose our own.
Press [6] •
The prompt %age? wants you to provide a number, You may give any
positive number less than 100. Type ’40’ and enter.
The scale changes immediately with 40% now as the top.
blank.
The screen is
Press [4] EXECUTE
The bars are back and with a finer definition in the difference in
percentages. Compare the figure on the Row Total printout with the bars
on the screen.
3.4 PRECISION BAR HEIGHTS
The precision of the bar heights may sometimes be a little off.
Remember that the printed report’s percentage are rounded to the nearest
tenth, The bar percentages are rounded to the nearest l/40th of the
scale•
The general rule is that the smaller the scale the finer the
precision.
It is difficult ty get satisfactory precision in the bars
that rise only to 8 percent wheti they must share the scale with bars that
rise to 80 percent.
in
It is always best to concentrate on the bars that are closely related
height. Let’s re-label the histogram so we can use a smaller scale.
Press [2] LABELS.
This time we will choose all four states for the X-axis labels and
only the equal to and less than -1 W/H z-score for bars, We are only
using one bar this time.
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USER HANDBOOK
Press [5] SCALE.
Our scale will be 20% which is a pre-set percentage.
Press [4] 20%
After the scale has changed press [4] EXECUTE.
You could even go to a smaller scale if you want, but by now you
should understand the effect choosing different scales has on accuracy.
3.5 N-SHIFT
N-SHIFT is for number shift. With N-SHIFT you change the N number.
Right now we are in a combined ages mode. All the ages of the children
were taken as a whole. But we do not have to look at all the age groups
combined.
We can concentrate on one of the age groups.
Press [3].
The program asks if you want to combine the ages or select an
interval. We are going to select an interval.
Press [ 1 ].
The list of intervals is presented,
the one-year-olds.
For this example we shall choose
Press [2], the corresponding number for the one-year-olds.
We have focused the histogram on the 958,000 one-year-olds in the
cross-tabulation results. You won’t see the new N number unless you press
[2] and put out the labels again.
We ought to clean up the screen since we are starting fresh. You may
press [L] or [H] for low or high intensity. Low intensity draws grey
lines on the screen. Some monitors can’t draw that color so there is
high intensity which draws light blue lines across the screen. The
intensity setting may be used at anytime to clear the scale.
You may select the labels again for the two axes •
USER HANDBOOK
4
Select the first three states, choose all the W/H z scores
scores except
except
ZERO and then execute. IHistograms
”
only seem difficult to make the first
few times. If you stop and think about it,> the menu is almost a
step-through guide.
3.6 SUMMARY OF STEPS
The steps to making a histogram are:
1. SET AXIS, ueciae
Decide what two dimensions are going to the X and Y
axes. Choose the X-axis first. The program will ask you to choose the
bars which is the Y-axis. Then the program will ask what you want to do
about the unchosen dimension-- combine it or choose one of the intervals.
2. LABELS. ”
■
You are Jjust choosing
the intervals. Remember that
you’re limited for space on the screen, The more X-axis Intervals you
select, the fewer bars you can have.
3. EXECUTE. Draw the bars. You can always execute as long as you
have selected axes and set out the labels.
4. SCALE. If after drawing the bars you decide that you don’t need a
100Z scale, you simply choose another.
5. N-SHIFT. You are choosing to combine or interval the third
dimension. The N number at the top of the screen changes accordingly.
3.7 GRAPHING THE MEANS
Since we have the capability to collect the taverage of any numeric
basis, we, appropriately enough, have the
capability to plot a histogram of those means•
Press [6] MEAN PLOT to plot the W/H z-score groups.
The only difference in drawing bars for means and drawing bars for
percentages
scale, We aren’t using a percent scale, r
entases is the scale.
We are using
a range. Since the mean we collected was on W/H r::::;,
z-score, our top range
would be the reasonably expected highest z-score in the results/
Let’s choose the W/H z-score of 4 as the upper range.
Type ’4’ and enter.
Now we have to choose a bottom range, So that scale will be
symmetric, we’ll choose -4 as the low W/H z-score.
Type and enter ’-4’
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USER HANDBOOK
Notice the scale. It ranges from -4 to 4.
line. That line is brighter than the others.
In the middle is the zero
We would select AXIS and LABELS the same as we did when we chose
percentages•
Choose the three previous states for the X axis. Choose the six
previous W/H z-scores as the bars. Combine all the ages. Then [4]
EXECUTE.
Just like when you chose different scales for percentages, you can
choose different ranges for Mean.Plots. This time set the mean plot
scale to 3 at the top and -3 at the bottom. The screen will clear and
you can execute right away.
Histograms are pleasing illustrations of numeric data but they can be
difficult to make, especially when you’re trying to represent figures on
your printed cross-tabulation. For what it’s worth, the histogram is
never wrong. Many times what is really wrong is your interpetation of
what you’re seeing. You must practice and experiment with the histogram
function. Repeat this chapter again but use different axes.
USER HANDBOOK
page 38
CHAPTER IV
USING THE BATCH PROGRAM
What is Batch processing?
teractively with a human operator entering one record at a time.
This is the way our bank statements and telephone bills
are processed—in
large quantities in repetition—hence the term 'batch'.
Batch will serve the user who has a database of
records and
only needs a way to process then, Batch may seem a unprocessed
bit more difficult to
follow for the inexperienced user, The typical Batch user probably has access
to a mainframe computer, uses other file
management software and perhaps knows
a great deat about personal computers.
Batch file data on a diskette is easy to spot. The file "DEMOBAT TYT”
the Supplmental Files diskette provided with this package is a StcJ'me on
driveCAUandEntering.data
by puttlnS the documentation diskette You
in
TYPE A:DEMOBAT.TXT
What you111 see
rH
numbers- Some batch files have numbers
and letters. Thee rpr
records scroll down the screen in a pattern because there is
an embedded code for <carriage return and line feed at certain intervals. This
embedded Interval marks the
...j break point between records. Because you are able
to make this file ^Pear
h* Screen so
programmers usually call
this a text file, or an ASCII (pronounced "ASKee") file—ASCII stands for
American Standard Code
for Information Interchange.
--- _or
If you’ve purchased and used DBASE
or LOTUS, you’ve probably made several
ASCII files. A systems analyst or
programmer could assist you in getting
ASCII files from a mainframe computer.
The point is, that if you’ve got an
ASCII file that has at least height, weight
, sex and enough information to
derive the age of a patient, the BATCH prcgr™
program
can read it, process it for
anthropometric indices, attach the results°and write'it
---- -- to another file.
4^.1 PREPARING RAW DATA FOR BATCH PROCESSING
Batch files come from a mainframe computer or from a PC program.
Where you get the data isn't important. Getting the batch file on a
diskette so you can get it into the PC is important.
The user who moves data from another
system or
or "host" computer to a PC is
°Ue Wh° downloads
already have_i the means of making this
data transfer. No program or procedure ln thls package
! can perform a
system-to-system link.
_
Data already on a diskette must meet certain simple criteria:
USER HANDBOOK
page 39
4
1. It must be a columnar ASCII file.
2. It must have the standard two-byte end-of-record marker
CHR$(13)+CHR$(10) so the program knows where one record ends and the
next begins.
3. A standard EOF mark (CHR$(27) or CHR$(26)) must be at the
end of the file.
These are not complex requirements. Most off-the-shelf PC database programs
meet these requirements and virtually all mainframe data is stored in ASCII
with the appropriate file markers.
4.2 PROCESSING THE RAW DATA FILE
From this point the raw data will be called the SOURCE DATA, The product
we are making will be called the DESTINATION FILE, You will need to boot up
your computer provide a formatted diskette for your destination file.
After the computer has booted up and DOS is present, type
BATCH and [enter].
Shortly after typing BATCH, you will briefly see a red box introducing the
program and telling you there will be a slight delay for loading the data
table that calculates the indices.
You will see a menu appear after the data table is loaded. When this has
occurred you may remove your program diskette and put it away for the rest of
the session.
YOUR MENU CHOICES ARE:
1. Examine the Batch File
2. Retrieve Field Location Template
3. Create Field/Location Template
4. Calculate and Convert Source Files
5. Escape to DOS
As your understanding of Batch grows you will use all these choices. For
the sake of this exercise, we will concentrate on four tasks:
Task I.
Examine a source data file to determine if it is suitable for batch processing.
. Task II.
Create a field location template and use it to see if we can trial process a
typical record.
USER HANDBOOK
page 40
Task III.
Convert a batch file into a specialized ”ETB’’ file compatible with the
Anthropometric Statistical Package
Task IV.
Convert a batch file into another standard batch file for
use on mainframes or
with other statistics programs.
To succeed you must follow only the instructions
given.
procedures•
Don’t anticipate
4.3 EXAMINING SOURCE DATA FILE
Step 1.
Press [1]
At this point the screen changes, A four-line scale
- ----- appears near the top
half of the iscreen
—
’ the lower half is dominated
and
by a bright blue field and
a red window.
In the window there is the prompt:
DISK DRIVE AND NAME OF SOURCE FILE?
EXCEPTED FORMAT B:YOURFILE.EXT
Your reply will be:
A:DEMOBAT.TXT [return]
NOTE: A and B are disk drives. Throughout this exercise you will use
whatever letter represents the disk
i-*- drive
1-1.j you are using.
Appearing in the same window, the next prompt is:
RECORD LENGTH?
Your reply will be
[return]
Pressing [ret] means that you don't know what the record length is and
you
want the program to determine it by searching the first record for an
end-of-record mark. There could be many occasions when you aren't
well-acquainted with the ?source
---- data
* • and the record length
- is not certain.
Never ’guess’ or ’estimatee a record length. You either know it or you don’t.
You’ll notice that the computer has displayed a string of numbers along the
lines of the scale. The scale is tick-marked in 5
and 10-byte increments.
This is a graphic representation of the first record in the DEMOBAT.TXT source
file. The computer reports that the record is 246 bytes long (the term
'bytes' is preferred over 'columns' when speaking of'disk and tape files).
page 41
USER HANDBOOK
4
The blinking colon in the blue box is the actual location of the
end-of-record marker. For our purpose it is not counted as part of the
record’s usable length. The program,^however- ,f does recognize it and processes
This
offset need not concern you.
the record’s length as 248. -- -first record is 246 bytes long
Just because the computer reported that the file is of equal length. For the
—r record in the source
doesn't mean that every
-*! length. You must check a few
work
all
the
records must be the same
program to
all
the same length.
records at random to make sure that they are i--
Step 2.
-•
that asks if you would like to check another
There is a prompt on the screen
<------ number: Let’s say 45
record• You may enter another
record --■ or what is hoped to
Doing this causes the program to pick the 45th
246 bytes (plus 2-byte maker) is
be the 45th based on the premise that every
the start of a new record.
The computer reports back that this random record is indeed 246 bytes
just like the first record. Had any of the records before 45th record been
would be off and the
Some number other
than 246 would have been reported in that event.
ANYTIME THE PROGRAM CHECKS A RANDOM RECORD THE LENGTHS MUST ALWAYS BE THE
SAME. IF NOT, YOU CANNOT PROCESS THE FILE.
When you
This information, though fringing on the technical, is useful.
will
need
to repeat
start to examine your own data tiles for suitability you
Uniformity
is
file
is
uniform.
this task to assure yourself that your
uniform,
fundamental to batch file processing.
4.4 IDENTIFYING FIELD LOCATIONS
in order to perform the functions in this task, you must have already
examined batch file and fetched a record to the screen.
In this critical step you tell the computer the column locations for
various pieces of information within the record, You’ll prove that you
column locations are correct by test processing a record.
USER HANDBOOK
page 42
-
Step 1. Press [3].
4
The first fields you must identify are the ones necessary to compute
the anthropometric indices. A large window appears and displays the
fields the program recognizes when processing a record. It will not be
necessary to fill out every field. At a minimum the computer must know
the patient’s:
SEX:
AGE:
HEIGHT:
WEIGHT:
recognizes M and F or 1 and 2 as male and female respectively,
computes from birth and visit date or age in months.
recognizes HT cm or feet and inches.
recognizes WT kgs or pounds and ounces.
Notice the triangle-shaped pointer, This pointer can be moved from
field to field by pressing [return] and [backspace]. This way the user
can skip around and correct mistakes easily.
Using the figures below, fill out the field locations for this
record. If you make a mistake, press [return], the backspace key (NOT
left arrow), and type over the error.
I.D.
1-11
SEX
59
VISIT DT (yr) 45-46
BIRTH DT (yr) 55-56
HT cms
WT kgs
VISIT DT (mo) 41-42
BIRTH DT (mo) 51-52
VISIT DT (da) 43-44
BIRTH DT (da) 53-54
87-90,1
84-86,1
The computer monitors your inputs. You'll
You’ll hear a beep if
If you input a
negative range like 56-44. If you type in an Incorrect field, go back to
that field and void it out with a single slash [/]. The slash causes the
computer to ignore the field.
You may have noticed as you entered your field locations that data in
the record display was highlighted, On monochrome monitors the
highlighting is in inverse video. On color monitors:
FIELD
COLOR
I.D
Sex
Visit
Birth
WT cm
HT kgs
White
Blue
Magenta
Red
Green
Yellow
USER HANDBOOK
page 43
<-
In fields followed by ’’,1” (as height and weight are) the computer
will assume one decimal place.
”,2” would indicate two decimal places
and so forth. The program will also accept data that already has decimal
points in the record. Don’t use the comma extension on fields that
already have decimals in the data.
Step 2.
Press [*] asterisk.
The window reappears except there aren’t any field labels. This is
another field location routine except this time you will indicate
User-Selected Fields. User-Selected Fields are extra classification
fields beyond those needed for anthropometric computation. You may have
up to 24 of these extra fields. In our example we are using only seven.
Step 3. Create extra variables from the table below.
HOMESTD (for homestead)
#HHSIZE (household size. # mean this a numeric field)
INCOME (main source of income)
POLIO
DIPTH
MEASLES
(vaccination certificate)
VACERT
(brothers and sisters)
#SIBS
@SW
Press [*] to quit.
Notice that two of the fields have a ’in front of them. This means
that this field is for numeric data and that mathematical calculations
can be made on whatever number^ are in that field.
The ’sign will not be saved with the label but the program will
still treat it as a numeric data field.
The other unusual label is ’^SW*. That is the exclusive label for
sample weight. It tells the program that anything in this field is to be
the patient’s true count in a cross tabulation, (see: SAMPLE WEIGHTS,
Chapter 1). IF EVER YOU HAVE SAMPLE WEIGHTS IN YOUR BATCH FILE- YOU MUST
USE 'GSW' AS THE FIELD LABEL.
Now that you have identified or ’’labeled” the fields, you must put in
their field locations.
i
USER HANDBOOK
page 44
Step 4. Follow the information below. Type in the field location data
beside the indicated label.
HOMESTD 7-9
#HHSIZE 67-68
INCOME 222-223
POLIO
78
DIPTH
79
MEASLES 80
VACERT
76
#SIBS
224-225
@SW
171-175
Press [*] to quit.
Step 5.
Press the [ret] key.
Notice that another window appears quickly followed by the computed
anthropometric indices. What has happened is that the computer performed
a test computation on the on-screen record based upon the information you
supplied in the field locations.
The information has not been saved anywhere but it serves as a way to
tell you how the computer interpreted the data in the record. This is the
way it will interpret all your records. If anything was wrong, this
would be the time to fix it. When you process your own source data you
will need to use this task as a guide.
Step 6.
Press the [ret] key.
Another prompt window appears.
This time you are told: THESE FIELD LOCATIONS WILL BE SAVED
ASSIGN DISK DRIVE AND A NAME
Any name up to eight characters is acceptable but for the sake of
simplicity and easy coordination, you may use the same name as the first
eight characters of your source data file.
For this exercise your reply will be: A:DEMOBAT There is no
default name for a template but it is still recommended that you name it
after your source file.
You have just made a small file of the field location data. This
little file is called a ’’template.'' It contains the field locations, the
decimal placement and the symbols for male and female. Making a file
like this will save you from having to re-enter field locations the next
time a DEMOBAT.TXT batch file is processed.
-
USER HANDBOOK
page 45
Even though the batch file is also called DEMOBAT, the computer knows
the difference because it attaches the extension ".ELD" to the template
you just made. Therefore:
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU NEVER MAKE EXTENSIONS OF YOUR OWN I
The program will not be able to find your templates if you start
applying extensions to your template names. Only the batch file that was
downloaded or created by some other PC software is allowed to have its
own extension. The program assigns all other extensions.
4.5 CONVERT AND COMPUTE SOURCE FILE
In the previous two tasks you examined your source data file for
suitability; made a template of the field locations, Including those of
seven user selected variables; and submitted a record to a test
computation. Now that you are sure one record will process correctly you
should be able to process the whole batch file.
Step 1.
Press [4].
The screen has cleared and changed again. There is a coral colored
border at the top of the screen and a yellow prompt window presenting you
with three choices.
Choices B and C are for making batch files into other reformatted
batch files for use in other systems. Choice A is for making ETB patient
files compatible with ENTRY and TAB. We are going to make [A] first.
Step 2. Press [A] and [enter].
Another window appears near the top of the screen.
It reads:
SOURCE FILE [A:DEMOBAT.TXT]
The file name in the brackets is a default name. If you press [ret]
that is the file it will process. Since you examined DEMOBAT.TXT, it is
assumed that is the file you wish to convert. If not, enter the name of a
new file.
WARNING: It is not wise to convert batch files to ETB files on the
same disk drive. Depending on the size of the batch file, there is the
possibility of running out of room on the diskette.
USER HANDBOOK
page 46
If you have only one disk drive you will have to use short batch
files
Each ETB record requires 221 bytes of disk space. You'll have to
batch file.
866
n’any reC°rds fit on a dinette that already has a
Step 3.
The prompt asks for the LENGTH OF SOURCE RECORDS? [2461
The answer is 246 unless you've decided to process a different
c°
thi’
tta w" «*u
The prompt asks HOW MANY RECORDS ARE IN SOURCE FILE?
Its not often that anyone knows or remembers the exact number of
records in a batch file. If you don’t know you would just press Return]. The default answer is 5000. The computer would process
unti! It ran out of batch records or wrote 5000 records, whichever
occured first. If you wish to cut off your batch file at a certain
point you would enter that cut-off number. The program will not make
more than 5000 ETB records per file.
Your reply to the prompt is just [ret]
STEP 4.
The prompt asks BEGIN CONVERSION WITH WHAT RECORD?
You are able to start at any point in the source file, This
enables you to process source files with thousand
of records and
divide it into several ETB-compatible files. The default answer
is 1.
Reply to the prompt with a null [return] answer.
STEP 5.
STEP 6.
The prompt asks PRINT FLAGGED RECORDS (Y/N)?
Here you choose whether or not you want a hard copy of records
that receive Edit Flags, The answer must be N or Y in capital
letters. You may answer this
- j prompt either way you choose. The
default is ”N”.
The prompt asks WRITE FLAGGED RECORDS TC
TO FILE (Y/N)?
A positive reply means that the
Edit -Flagged
--- ----—'-oo'-** records
t'-k.uxuo, though
possibly the result of a bad data entry will be included with
the file, You may answer this
-- j prompt either way. The default
is ”Y”.
The process has begun. The batch files are being read,
computed,
converted and saved on another file
that—. can
appended searched and
------------— —— be
w
flzl
1
fcl. niTrnnir
- •
* *
edited
with
ENTRY or (cross-tabulated
and printed with TAB.
USER HANDBOOK
page 47
*
*
The resulting indices are displayed near the bottom of the screen.
The flagged records are being displayed in metric measurements near the
top. Deficient records were purposely included in this file. Included in
this display is a count of the flagged records and what percentage of
the batch file contained flagged records.
If you would like to see the flagged data in U.S. Standard rather
than metric, press [U]. The change may not be immediate but don’t press
[U] more than once.
To switch back to metric, press [M].
To turn off the display of indices, press [D]• The program works
faster with the display of indices turned off.
To escape the conversion process, press [Esc]. No damage will result
to the file. The program will finish converting whatever record it
happens to be processing and then close the file. Any batch records sent
to this file in the future will be added at the end.
The return of the menu indicates the successful completion of the
conversion process.
Review the work accomplished so far. Practice them again with a few
variations until you are comfortable with converting batch files into
data files useful to this package.
4.6 CONVERTING BATCH FILES TO OUTPUT FILES
This task covers the B and C conversion options mentioned in Task
III. Use of either of these options causes the batch file data to be
computed and the results to be Output as another batch file.
Advanced users and programmers using DBASE, SPSS*, SASGRAPH*, etc.,
would be the only ones most likely to need this capability. Just as when
the original batch file was downloaded to the PC diskettes, these new
batch files can be "uploaded” to the mainframe.
Users who don’t have access to a mainframe or some other
sophisticated statistical process may wish to practice this task for
experience but there will be no useful application for the files it
produces using ENTRY and TAB.
Step 1. Escape back to DOS and restart the program,
your printer. Make sure paper is loaded and ready.
* SPSS and SASGRAPH are copyrighted trademark names.
Connect and turn on
USER HANDBOOK
page 48
<9
Though this task is very similar to TASK III, we are going to
approach the procedure by a quicker route.
Step 2.
When you have the menu on the screen Press [4].
You are given a choice of A, B or C. You already tried A. B or C
produces essentially the same product: a plain ASCII file. As indicated
beside the two choices, one includes decimals and the other does not.
For this practice, choose C.
(You must use upper case C)
When prompted for the name of the source file, reply with
[A:DEMOBAT.TXT]• The NO DEFAULT message reminds you that you must provide
a file name. The program cannot default on the very first prompt after
start-up.
The next prompt asks you for the field location template. The default
response is A:DEMOBAT. You may press the return key and the program will
load the template.
The next prompt asks for the name you wish to give the new batch file
you are making. The default is A:DEMOBAT. The program will attach the
extension ".SRC" to it. Press the return key to use the default name.
The next prompt asks for the length of the batch records. The default
is 246. The program found that number in the template file DEMOBAT.FLD.
Press the return key to use the default.
The next prompt asks how many records are in the batch file. You
shouldn’t even answer this prompt unless you purposely wish to cut off
the processing at a certain point.
The next prompt asks at what record you wish to start processing. The
default is the first record. You wouldn’t answer this prompt unless you
want the program to start somewhere other than the beginning.
The next two prompts ask whether you want to print out your flagged
batch records and if you want to save the flagged records. The defaults
are No and Yes respectively.
The next prompt asks if you want a printout of the field locations.
The default answer is [Y].
The printer will print out the field locations for the file it is
making. Field location information is important to the programmer
receiving the processed output file.
USER HANDBOOK
page 49
♦
This program writes records that place all the results of the
anthropometric computation, computed age, and three-position sequence
number at the beginning of the record followed by a copy of the batch
record it processed. In other words, you get a copy of the original
batch file with new computations attached to the beginning of every
record.
When the records are processed, you may escape to DOS and examine
what the computer has made by entering TYPE A:DEMOBAT.SRC. TYPE is a
DOS command. Using PRINT instead or TYPE will send the output to the
printer. Consult your DOS manual if you have any difficulties.
Because we used option [C], there are decimals in the computed part
of the
record, If you had used selection [B] you would have obtained the
hz rsccrd.
same information in the same sequence except with no decimals.
The correct choice depends on your needs. Be
7 warned,
‘ ;however, that
both B and C write the extension .SRC to the file they create.i You
cannot have a B and C-created file of the same name unless you create
them on separate disk drives.
—•
—
>'
USER HANDBOOK
page 50
APPENDIX A
Mathematical Operators Recognized by TAB
Less than (<): The program would interpret <23 as all values of 23
minus .01— in this case all values 22.99 and less. The value .01 is
always subtracted from the value given; therefore <-8 means all values
starting at -8.01 and less.
Less than/equal
values 23 and less.
(<=): The program would interpret <=23 as all
Greater than (>): The program would interpret >23 as all values
23.00 plus .01— in this case all values 23.01 and more. The value .01
is always added in this case no matter what the value; therefore >55.68
means all values starting at 55.69 and up.
Equal/greater than (“>): The program would interpret =>23 as all
values 23 and greater starting at 23.00.
Hyphen (-): The hyphen is used to indicate the entire span from
one value to another value. The program adds .09 to upper range values
that are already precise to one decimal places. The programs adds .99
to upper range values that have no decimal places.
When positioned properly the program detects the difference between a
hyphen and a negative sign. Therefore it is correct to use a label like
“5.52—4.01 to mean numbers between negative 5.52 and negative 4.01. The
program ’’knows” which is the hyphen. DO NOT USE BRACKETS OR PARENTHESIS.
Parentheses ( ): The parentheses is for descriptive labeling, The
interval 2.00-2.99 might be given (+2 Zscr). "+2 Zscr" will be printed
on the finished report instead of 2.00-2.99. LABELS MAY BE SEVEN
CHARACTERS AND SPACES WIDE.
CROSS-TABULATING FOR EDIT FLAGS
It isn’t wise to cross-tabulate with edit flags in the ETB files.
However you can cross-tabulate for Edit Flags, Select the variable ”EF"
as a page, row or column. The interval would be ’X’.
USER HANDBOOK
page 51
CROSS-TABULATING FOR DATES
It is possible to cross-tabulate by visit date (V'DATE) or birthdate
(B’DATE). If, for example, you wanted to make a longitudinal study to
look at patient progress over the course of several months you would
select V'Date as either a page, row or column variable, The intervals
would be yymmdd-yynnndd (e.g. 850701-850831(JUL-AUG). This example
searches from July 1, 1985 to August 31, 1985. The yymmdd format must be
used because that is the way dates are written on the record. Also: the
early date must come before the later date.
USER HANDBOOK
page 52
appendix b
Files made by Version 3
If you were a former user of Version 2, ’
’ve noticed that Version 3
makes and calls upon a staggering variety of you
files,
. This is a summary of
those file and their purpose.
DATA: This is a
part of the package.
Loss of this file would
jTB: These are patient records. They are made with ENTRY and BATCH,
Each record is 221 bytes long
regardless of how little or how much
information is put in them,
They are ASCII and can be used "as is” in
any outside program that will tolerate decimals in the data.
These are field location files imade
__ 2 and used by the Batch
program. They contain the column locations of key data in a batch file
that the Batch program already processed,
They can be recalled, edited,
and reused in several variations to
process other batch files.
are <
variawrseiected
yfor
ncaln the variables
They
contain
tJ^inteJva^and^he7
------ i of a mean.
edited and stored in
uses standard rectangular files.
’ g
Ph
’ °r tabulation program that
TAB: These are stored cross-tabulation results. They contain r
tabulated figure in each cell and various control data used by theevery
i Tab
program.
TEMP.TAB; This file is iproduced while using the TAB program when a
user attempts 11,6
to print
the be
results
flHbrar
frenan,"df (^Ping'^S^xtinsio^'and118
the results,
added to the user’s library of save results.
TXT: These cr
^to'versl eSS:d ’ ASCI1 batCh reC°rds made exclusively by
the SWAP Version 2- to Version 3 conversion program. They are 88 columns
wide and can be used in other PC and mainframe application. They are
made especially for the Batch
program which reprocess these records into
ETB and SRC files.
page 53
USER HANDBOOK
APPENDIX C
Accuracy of Anthropometric Indices
The anthropometric indices are calculated by a subroutine that is
identical to a FORTRAN language subroutine in the central computer at the
Centers for Disease Control. It will more than likely differ from other
anthropometric programs used at universities and other government
agencies. This software package does not supercede or refute the
calculation routines of any other program.
The only time the accuracy of the anthropometric indices may come
into question within this package is when users use U.S. standard
feet/inches and pounds/ounces rather than metric.
Although the option to use U.S. standard exists in the Entry and
Batch programs, the program computes and stores information in metric.
The anthropometric indices, computed age, height and weight are rounded
up to the nearest two decimal places (values are rounded down in the case
of negative numbers).
When U.S. standard measures are used the program will make its
anthropometric calculations with full precision metric equilavents and
then round off the metric equivalent to the nearest hundredth before
writing the record to the patient file.
When using the Edit function of Entry, you may notice a sudden shift
in the computed anthropometric indices when the record is restored to the
disk. The shift may be as great as +- .03 because the heights and
weights entered in U.S. Standard cannot be recalled and precisely
represented regardless of what? display mode you are using., If_ the slight
'
*: be tolerated then it is suggested that you re-entet
decrepencies cannot
re—entet
the U.S. Standard measurements anytime you edit a record for any reason.
»
USER HANDBOOK
page 54
APPENDIX D
Lotus Compatibility
CONVERTING LOTUS TO GASP
Lotus print files (PRN) are already compatible with Batch, the file
processing program explained in Chapter IV of this handbook. As stated
i^nc^pt®r Iv> the main requirement for processing a text file is that
all the records be uniform in length,
- ’ • In most ways, Lotus print files,
meet that requirement. No special conversion program is needed.
The main obstacle to processing a ILotus print file is that most users
apply titles, sub—headings and assorted banners
and1 carriage returns
------ -ahead of the data, f*
Since the Batch program interpets a horizontal row of
cells as a single record,, the
1
various headings and carriage returns are
useless to the process and,, in fact, may even prevent examination of the
file.
If you are using Lotus 1-2-3 as a database for patient records:
o1. each
e^cn record
record must
niust contain
contain sex, age
age, height and weight horizontally.
2. the database worksheet must be stored as a print file.
aH extraneous documentation (headings, legends, etc) must be
deleted.
Using
in Chapter IV, you should be able to
Ubxug the
Lue knowledge
Knowledge you acquired m
examine one of the records from the Lotus print file, identify the column
locations of the individual fields, and process the entire print file for
output as ETB files or computed text files.
CONVERTING GASP TO LOTUS
There is a conversion p
--program
on the supplemental files diskette of
the GASP package called LCHANGE.
T----- is
* designed
‘
---- - LCHANGE
to convert ETB
patient files and TAB cross-tabulation results
files
------ --j to Lotus print files.
The purpose for the conversion program is to give users the option of
using the graphic output capabilities in Lotus. The program’s
instructions appear on the screen.
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