Things you need to know about your
dataset
• What variables will be available to be analyzed?
• What do they mean?
• Where do they come from?
– Questionnaires
– Log sheets or abstracting forms
• Data dictionary – variable names and meanings
(e.g., SMOK=Did you ever smoke more than 100
cigarettes in a year?)
• Codebook (e.g, 1=Yes, 2=No)