An electronic menstrual cycle calendar: comparison of data quality with a paper version.
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.
Johannes
C B
CB
New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472, USA.
Crawford
S L
SL
Woods
J
J
Goldstein
R B
RB
Tran
D
D
Mehrotra
S
S
Johnson
K B
KB
Santoro
N
N
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