Chapter 4. Planning and associated data: Handheld computers for digital data collection.

Abstract/Summary

Here, we describe an alternative to traditional penand-paper data recording. With recent advancements in handheld computers and their software applications, the development and use of electronic forms for recording data (using Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs), a topic that has only been mentioned briefly in previous literature (e.g., Donnelly and Guyer 1994), has become a reality. Multiple operating platforms for PDAs, including handheld PCs, Pocket PCs, and the Palm OS (see Appendix II), are now on the market. Each one offers mobile, electronic data collection and its associated benefits to investigators in the fi eld. Below, we outline some of the advancements that have been made over the past 10 years in the use of PDAs for recording data, and we compare the benefits of recording field data electronically with those of data entry on paper sheets.