title: An electronic menstrual cycle calendar: comparison of data quality with a paper version.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This pilot study compared a prototype electronic menstrual calendar on a handheld computer with a paper calendar for data quality and participants' perceptions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three women completed identical information about menstrual bleeding and symptoms using paper and electronic calendars for 1 month each.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Use of the paper calendar resulted in more missing data than the electronic calendar for bleeding characteristics (13% vs. 4%) and symptoms (35% vs. 4%). The electronic calendar's ability to log data entries revealed retrospective entry for 61% of the data. Total data entry and cleaning time was reduced by 81% with the electronic calendar. Overall, participants preferred the electronic (70%) to the paper (22%) calendar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data quality with conventional paper calendars may be poorer than recognized. The data-logging feature, unique to the electronic calendar, is critical for assessing data quality. Electronic menstrual calendars can be useful data collection tools for research in women's health.
authors.affiliation: New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472, USA.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Johannes
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mehrotra
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Santoro
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers; D004581:Electronics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D008598:Menstruation; D010209:Paper; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011786:Quality Control; D011996:Records