Migrating to newer versions of the database

Research Tools

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The PEN prototype questionnaire

»	The PEN prototype questionnaire, version 4 (May 2007)
»	A French translation of the questionnaire, version 4 (August 2007)
»	A Spanish translation of the questionnaire, version 4 (July 2007)
»	A Brazilian Portuguese translation of the questionnaire (version 4)
»	A Mozambican Portuguese translation of the questionnaire (version 2)
»	A Chinese translation of the questionnaire
»	A Nepalese translation of the questionnaire

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The PEN Technical Guidelines

»	The PEN guidelines, version 4 (May 2007)
»	A Spanish translation of the guidelines (version 4)
»	Code list, version 6.4
»	Database Frequently asked questions

•

PEN Data Cleaning

»	Data submission and cleaning process
»	data cleaning report
»	Data entry tips

Section: Home > Research Tools > Tools

Migrating to newer versions of the database

V3 (or V2) to V4

V4 of the databases has been up for sometime now. For those just getting started on data entry for a particular survey, our recommendation is that you use this latest version. However, some have already begun on, or are in advanced states of data entry using V3 (or even V2) and are wondering how to move your data to V4.

The simplest (albeit manual) way is to copy and paste your data from V3 to V4 (Whilst this may sound like a lot of work, our experience is that once you get started, it will go really fast). Below, we’ll outline the procedure for those who would like to give it a try

Note: Before outlining the procedure, we’d like to note that this method works when the tables in the two versions are similar (same variables (fields) and in the same order, but with a changes in field properties). Most of the fields have remained unchanged in V4 so this method would largely work. However, there are tables in which some new fields have been added such as v1_a_geo. For these tables, this method will fail and so you need to mail us your data and we’ll do it for you.

What we propose is that you study the instructions and try to migrate from V3 to V4. If however, you do not feel comfortable doing this, we’ll help.

Instructions

Let V3 be the source database and V4 the destination database

open the first table (e.g. v2_a_geo) in the both the destination and source databases
Compare the validation rules, field size and decimal places for any variables for which you made changes in the source database with those in the destination database. If necessary change the destination properties.
Save the changes you have made in the destination database
On the menu of the source database, go to 'view' and select 'datasheet view'
Select all records (shortcut is ctrl + A)
Copy (ctrl + C)
Go to the destination database (the same table should be open)
Paste (ctrl + V)
repeat this procedure for all tables

Note

Once again, we’d like to caution that this method only works where the fields in the destination database are in exactly the same order as in the source database. If they are not, this method will fail.

After pasting data into all the tables of the database, go to the 'objects' menu on the left of the screen and select 'forms'. Open the cover page form (e.g v1_a_geo) and go through the whole questionnaire and compare the data pasted to what is on the physical questionnaire. Do this for a few questionnaires, just to make sure everything has worked out correctly.