I was a research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, a top-ranking institution for medical education and research in Thailand. So, I have several research projects to manage, and data collection plays a big role in my responsibilities.
1. Purpose of data collection:
= The research projects I was involved in about Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which is infrequently found in Thailand and other Asian countries but is common in Western countries. However, the number of IBD cases in Asia has been increasing significantly. So, the main purpose of the data collection in the research is to investigate the potential causes and treatment of IBD among the Thai population.
2. Was it primary or secondary data collection?
= Both types of data collection were performed. The data of projects are mainly collected by recording the disease score when the patients visit each week, interviewing the patients with the quality-of-life questionnaire, and interviewing their diet questionnaire by nutritionist, etc. In addition, some research projects needed some history health records as well, so reviewing the patient’s history health record in the HIS is a part of the data collection.
3. Methods used for data collection
= Paper-based data collection is the method I used most because data collection, like quality-of-life questionnaires, usually happens while patients wait in front of the examination room, and some patients could answer the questions on their own since the questions are based on their daily life behavior. Also, they prefer paper over Google Forms. After that, I had to recheck and fill out that data in Excel, which was duplicate work. In contrast, few projects have collaborated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and they created the case record form via REDCap, a secure web application for online surveys and databases. I like this system because it decreases the cost of paper used in the project. However, the Siriraj Hospital Research Center only provides REDCap through an intranet system, which makes it hard to use REDCap in other hospital research because it requires the use of the hospital computer while collecting data, which is impossible for me during OPD time since the doctors occupied all computers.
4. Were there any problems that occurred regarding data collection?
= I will divide the problems I have encountered into primary and secondary data collections.
– Primary data collection: low response rate (Some patients do not want to participate in the research study), data recording missing or error.
– Secondary data collection: missing or ambiguous data when reviewing the history of medical records.