When the evaluator has decided to pull information from existing forms, it will be important to plan carefully and be specific about what type of information is needed. The evaluator will need a systematic way to transform this information into numerical data. Alternatively, it might be more practical to record this information on paper and enter it into the computer at a later date. Below is a sample coding form that could be used to extract information from existing records. For many variables, the numbers, as numbers, are arbitrary and meaningless.
Categorical variables are useful in describing the sample.
For example, the evaluator may want to know how many male and female children are in a sample. That depends on the resources available for the evaluation. It will need to be determined if the data is to be entered into the computer at each site or sent to a central office. If sites have the facilities to enter data, it might make more sense to enter this information directly into the computer rather than completing a coding sheet. This may be particularly helpful if the statistical package being used presents a data template so that coders do not have look up codes every time they enter information.