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Handheld Computers

A Feasible Alternative to Paper Forms for Field Data Collection

Darin J. Erickson

Traci L. Toomey

Alexander C. Wagenaar

University of Minnesota

Recent advances in handheld computer hardware and software may provide alternatives to paper-based data collection methods. The authors compared data collected with paper forms to data collected with handheld computer-based forms in a field observation study of alcohol purchase attempts at 47 community festivals in a large metropolitan area. Agreement between data collected with paper forms and data collected with handheld computers was greater than 95%. Computer-based forms handled branching patterns better and yielded data that were immediately available for analyses. Paper forms handled written comments better. Handheld computers are a feasible alternative to paper forms for field data collection.

Key Words: handheld computer • data collection • data quality • PDA • palm

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