Project Watershed Central New York
Dedicated to facilitating water resource education in Central New York
Data Management
The Director briefly inspects the field survey sheets for completeness and nonsensical entries before leaving the sampling site. The teacher or adult team leader is responsible for completing the physical and biological data survey forms and providing a copy for the Director. The Director is responsible for completing the chemical data survey form. The Director reviews all of the forms and makes sure the entries are within correct ranges and there are no nonsensical readings (i.e. pH of 16). The Director contacts the teacher or adult stream team leader if there are any significant data omissions or errors. Once the Director has finished reviewing and completing the forms, they are forwarded to the Data Manager who also reviews the information on the forms. The Data Manager then uploads the volunteer stream survey information onto the Project Watershed CNY/SOS database. The Data Manager is responsible for making sure the database is maintained and operational. Hard copies of all field data sheets are kept on file at the Onondaga County Health Department.
The database software currently being utilized by Project Watershed CNY/SOS is File Maker Pro. This database type was chosen because it is a good introductory program that is user friendly. The system is also easy to set up as well as maintain. Currently, one of members of the Board of Directors who is involved with the Living SchoolBook (Syracuse University School of Education) program oversees the database and periodically reviews the data for obvious errors or omissions. The database is checked on a daily basis to ensure the system is working properly. The system has been set up on three servers so that in the event that one of the servers goes down, the data are still accessible.
The Onondaga County Health Department laboratory reports their split sampling results to the Director. The Director verifies the information and compares it to the volunteer collected data. Other members of the Board of Directors also review these data.