Using the Envirobase Coding Form. Information for coders

Transcription

1 Using the Envirobase Coding Form Information for coders Version Nov 2012

2 Using the Envirobase Coding Form Information for coders Contents 1 Installing and opening the Envirobase coding form Introduction Installing Running directly from the Coding Form folder Technical note Overview of the Envirobase coding form The Data Pane The Selection Pane The Echo Pane Help functions Identifying current focus in the Selection pane Coding notes or hints About the coding form version numbers The Coding process Import/export of data files Navigation around the batch Coding a project The rules for coding Coding on the six dimensions of the Envirobase Classification Scheme The physical process of coding Review of codings use of the Echo list Use of the Notes section Validation and completion of projects

3 1 Installing and opening the Envirobase coding form 1.1 Introduction The Envirobase coding form is a stand-alone program which should run on any PC using a Windows operating system. It can be installed quickly and easily by running the file ERFF- CodingForm-setup-x.y.exe (where x.y is the version number of the form) or it can simply be run from its own folder without installing on the PC. If running from its own folder, the folder can be held on the PC itself or it can be held on an external drive such as a data key (memory stick) and run directly from there. It is not essential to install the coding form in order to use it, but this method is very easy and tidy; it will insert a link to the form in your Start -> Programs list and, if you choose, provide you with a desktop shortcut to the coding form. It will also give you an Uninstall procedure in Start -> Programs so that you can later remove the coding form from your PC. Alternatively you can use the Add/Remove Programs tool in the Windows control panel to remove it. Either method should remove the form cleanly, including the desktop shortcut and the Start -> Program items. Section 1.2 describes the install procedure. However if you prefer not to use the install process see the alternative instructions at 1.3 below for how to use the form directly from its own folder. 1.2 Installing a. Close other applications (for safety) then double click on the ERFF-CodingForm-setupx.y.exe file provided. This starts the setup procedure and displays the box: Click Next

4 b. For simplicity, accept the default option and install the Coding Form along with other programs in your Program Files folder. Click Next and jump to point d below. c. If you prefer to install it in a different location, click Browse and navigate to the location where you want the installed files to be stored. You can also edit the name of the coding form folder, e.g. to include the version number as in the above example, if you wish. Click OK when you have chosen your install folder and made any edits to the folder name. Click Next. d. Now you can set a folder location for the coding form to appear in your Start -> Programs list: - 4 -

5 Click Next to accept the default option for the coding form to appear in an ERFF Project Coding Form folder in your PC s Start menu. You can edit the name of the Start Menu folder or browse to a different folder if you wish. e. You can now choose to have a desktop shortcut installed. Click Next. f. Now you have a final chance to review the options and locations you have chosen for installation: - 5 -

6 g. Or, for example: Note that if you use folder locations which are specific to the version number of the coding form you are installing now, as shown at g above, if you subsequently wish to install a later version of the form you will probably want to uninstall this one. If you use more general folder names (such as the default ones in the setup procedure, shown at f above) then installing a later version of the form will simply replace this version

7 h. Click Finish to complete the setup. It completes almost instantly and you should now find the Coding Form in your Start\Programs menu, and a Coding Form icon on your desktop. You can use either of these to open the form. 1.3 Running directly from the Coding Form folder If you do not wish to install the Coding Form you can run it from its own folder and set up your own desktop shortcut (and Start Menu item if you wish). In the Coding Form folder you should initially have the following files: ErffCodingForm.exe ErffCodingFormHelp.chm hierarchy.xml a. Store the folder where you choose in your own PC filing system or on your PC desktop (or on a data key plugged into your PC). b. Open the folder and create a shortcut to the ERFFCodingForm.exe file (right click on the filename and choose Create shortcut ). You can edit the name of the shortcut (for example, to remove the.exe, or to shorten the name) if you wish. c. Copy the shortcut to your desktop and, if you want the program in your Start -> Programs list, also copy it into C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs (or a similar location for your own User). This may not work if you are keeping the Coding Form folder on a data key and not on your PC. d. Double click on the desktop shortcut, or click on the Start menu item, to open the coding form. 1.4 Technical note You will now have a folder called ERFFProjectCodingForm or something similar somewhere on your PC. If you ran the install file to install the coding form, the coding form folder will be in your C:\Program files folder by default, or in another location if you browsed for one during the setup process. If you did not install the program, the coding - 7 -

8 form folder will be wherever you have put it. Once you start to use the coding form, some additional files will be created and these will be stored in the coding form folder. a. When you first open the form, a log file will be created in the Coding form folder: log.txt This keeps a record of file operations on the coding form that can be helpful in analysing any problems that arise in use of the form. It is updated whenever the coding form is in use. b. When you first close the form, a further file is created: config.ini The config.ini file stores information about the settings that you have used with the form, so that it opens next time with the same values for these settings as when you closed it. It is updated each time the form is closed. c. When you import a project batch to the coding form (described in section 3.1) a copy of the project file, called batch_data.erf, is created in the Coding Form folder. The config.ini file records the source of the batch_data.erf file, and the log file also records the filename and path each time you import or export a project batch. The batch_data.erf file is the file in which the codes you apply to projects, and any notes you write on the Notes tab, are recorded whilst the batch is attached to the coding form. Codes and notes are saved to the file each time you move to a different project, and when you close the form. When you export the batch from the form you save it under a new name and probably in a different location. At this point the batch_data.erf file appears as batch_data.~ef. It still contains the project information, including codes and notes etc, from the last batch that was attached to the form (so could be copied and saved in case some disaster befalls the exported coded batch). As soon as a new project batch is attached to the form, the batch_data.~ef file is overwritten by a new batch_data.erf file containing the projects in the new batch

9 2 Overview of the Envirobase coding form The Envirobase coding form has been designed to present all the relevant information available about each project, together with all the relevant information about the classification scheme, in a clear and easy-to-follow format, and to make the marking up of the classifications straightforward. There is also a validation procedure that will help to ensure that projects are coded to meet some simple guidelines. Toolbar Data Pane Echo Pane Full Hint for selected code appears here Selection Pane The coding form (illustrated above) has three main areas, referred to as the Data Pane, the Selection Pane and the Echo Pane. 2.1 The Data Pane Status bar (shows first part of Hint for code under cursor) The Data Pane is the top left area, and is where the project title and description and other basic information such as the funder s name, the funding type, any available information about the project budget or spend, and an Envirobase reference number for the project, are displayed. When the project description is too long to fit into the window provided for it, a scroll bar is provided. You can also slide the divider bars which separate the Data Pane from the Echo Pane (see below), and the Data/Echo panes from the Selection Pane (see below), to reveal more or less of each of them, as required. Limits are imposed on the extent to which the bars can be moved, to prevent any of the panes from disappearing - 9 -

10 entirely from view. Note that with the cursor within the project description area in the Data pane, a right mouse click provides a context menu giving you the option to increase the text size of the description. 2.2 The Selection Pane The Selection Pane is the lower half of the form, which displays the classification scheme and on which classifications are assigned to projects. It contains nine separate tabbed displays in total. The first six of these are for the six dimensions of the Envirobase classification scheme (Frascati, Primary Purpose, Human Domain, Environmental Domain, EPICS, and Geography), and the remaining three are for Keywords (used to flag projects which are not environmental, environmental only in part, or whose status is uncertain and needs to be examined by the LWEC Database team), for Research/Observation and Activity/Programme/Data Source status (to be marked up for ALL projects) and finally for Notes, where coders can (and should, please, wherever appropriate) write in comments or queries about a project. Section 3.3 (below) explains how to use the Selection Pane for classifying projects, and how the Notes section should be used. 2.3 The Echo Pane The Echo Pane is the top right hand area of the form, and is also tabbed. Its Echo function is to show clearly in a single view all the classifications that have been applied to the project currently on display, alongside the project description. Primary selections are displayed in bold type and secondary selections are displayed in regular type. A mouse click on any of the selections shown in the Echo Pane will cause the display in the Selection Pane to show the dimension and path by which that selection was reached. The Echo Pane also contains three other tabbed displays. The first two of these are called Extra 1 and Extra 2. These are used to display additional information that funders have provided about a project, such as any of the funder s own classifications that they have applied to the project. The content of these displays will vary from one funder to another. It may provide a useful aid to coding in some cases. There is also a tab marked Contacts. This relates to a separate use of the form and is not used during the coding process; the contacts fields will be empty for the projects displayed for coding. 2.4 Help functions Help is provided both by means of a Help button on the toolbar and in the form of contextsensitive help. Clicking the Help button on the toolbar opens the Help window at the Overview section and allows navigation to any of the individual Help sections. The context sensitive help is activated by a right mouse click in either the Selection pane or the Echo pane, and this opens the Help window displaying information about one of the tabbed dimensions, about the Echo pane, or about the Extra project information, according to where the mouse click is made. The full Help menu is available whenever the Help window is open. Tool tips appear when the cursor is hovered over the project title or over some of the Extra 1 funder information; these provide the full title or set of information, in case there is not enough space on the main display to show them in full

11 2.5 Identifying current focus in the Selection pane When you are working in the Selection pane the code currently holding the focus is identified by a bold orange frame. This may be the code which lies under the cursor when a single mouse click is made, but if this code has subcategories the focus will move automatically to the topmost subcategory you can move it back to the parent code by clicking again on that code (but not so quickly that it counts as a double click, which would select the code as a Primary selection). The full path to the code currently holding the focus is identified by non-bold orange frames. When a new tab is selected, the focus will normally be the top left code on the display, but if you have previously had this tab open the focus may still be as it was when you left it last. 2.6 Coding notes or hints Hints have been provided for many of the categories and subcategories in the classification scheme, to explain more about the code and its use. Although not all codes have hints, the hints are intended to provide fairly comprehensive guidance to coding correctly and coders should make full use of them. Nevertheless, in the course of coding, queries are bound to arise and the hints may need to be supplemented or edited. Updated versions of the classification scheme hierarchy xml file, or of the coding form, may be issued from time to time to take account of any changes. The full hint for the code which currently holds the focus (see 2.5 above) appears at the bottom of the selection pane itself. In addition, the Status bar along the bottom of the screen also displays the first 127 characters of the hint (if there is one) for any code over which the cursor is hovered. To see the full hint you may need to transfer the focus to that code by selecting it with a mouse click, as described above. 2.7 About the coding form version numbers An About box is displayed by clicking the About button on the toolbar. This shows the Version identities of the coding form and of the Hierarchy (classification scheme) attached to it. If there are changes to either the coding form or the classification during the coding process it may be important to know which version(s) were used for each batch of projects

12 3 The Coding process Batches of projects to be coded will be provided as attachments, in the form of.erf files. Save the files in a known location on your PC. 3.1 Import/export of data files Please note that the coding form behaves in a slightly different way from standard Microsoft Windows-based applications, as it has been designed with it in mind that coders will normally take several sessions to code a batch of projects, and will always be working with the same file during this time. Instead of the normal Open/Close/Save procedure with files, the form uses an Import/Export procedure, where Importing a file into the coding form will leave (a copy of) that file attached to the form through any number of opens and closes of the form, and the file will only be detached from the coding form when it is explicitly Exported. Codings applied using the form are saved as soon as you move to a different project in the file, and remain saved with the form until the file is exported. There is no undo procedure, but previously applied codings can be changed at any time. If you try to change the coding of a project which you have already marked as Completed (see section 3.4 below) a warning will be issued but you will still be able to make the change. To Import a file to the form: Click the Import batch button on the toolbar at the top of the coding form; browse to locate the correct batch and select it. The data contained in that file will then be attached to your coding form and will stay attached until you export the batch (normally for return to the database team after coding). Only one file can be attached to the coding form at any one time. When you have finished coding the batch, click on the Export batch button; a check will be run to see if you have left any projects not fully coded, and if so a warning will be displayed. If all projects in the batch have been fully coded, or if you confirm that you want to export the batch anyway, a Save dialog box will appear. Save the coded batch with a filename consisting of its input filename with _c appended (eg MB_Batch_01_c.erf ); the export routine will append this _c to the filename for you in the Export dialogue box, as the default filename. Return the exported (coded) file to the database team as an attachment. Note that you can re-import a batch which you have previously exported, change the coding of any of the projects if you wish, and then re-export the batch. 3.2 Navigation around the batch Single-headed ( ) and double-headed ( ) arrows on the toolbar allow you to move forward or backward through the projects either one project at a time, or to the next, or previous, incompletely coded project. and controls allow you to move directly to the first or last project in the batch

13 3.3 Coding a project The rules for coding The Envirobase Classification Scheme Manual is the primary reference source for the rules of coding and should be studied carefully by coders. The Manual forms part of a distance training course for coders, which also provides practice in coding, with feedback. This User Guide deals primarily with the mechanics of the coding process and the use of the coding form software; any guidance on coding rules is incidental. In general terms, projects should be coded according to their overall objective(s). Sometimes this may be partially obscured by the project description, which may have been written primarily with the object of obtaining funding, and may make a variety of claims for the potential use of the results. Try to focus on where the main impact of the project results is likely to be felt. Read the project description and then consider each of the dimensions on which it needs to be classified. Look at any additional information provided on the tabbed panes Extra 1 and Extra 2. Work through the tabbed dimensions and the Research vs Observation tab and mark them up appropriately. All items should be marked on the Research vs Observation tab for both Research vs Observation and Type, i.e. Activity, Programme or Data Source. To be defined as an observational activity or programme the work should involve collecting observations on the state of the environment on a reasonably regular basis (irrespective of frequency), or be a baseline survey which is intended to be followed by further observations on a reasonably regular basis. An activity is an individual project with a defined research objective; a programme consists of a number of individual projects, normally all addressing a particular theme but each having its own individual research objective. If you think that the work is not an environmental research project or programme (refer to the Envirobase Classification Scheme Manual, Chapter 2, for the scope of the database), or that it is only partially environmental research, or if you are uncertain whether it is or not, use the Keywords tab to mark it accordingly. In such cases you may be unable, or it may be inappropriate, to code the project on any or all of the dimensions of the classification scheme; this is not always the case, and you may find you have coded a project completely but then decide that it is not environmental research! Use the Notes tab to record any comments or queries about the project s coding that you want to bring to the attention of the database team Coding on the six dimensions of the Envirobase Classification Scheme The coding form allows projects to be marked with Primary classifications and Secondary classifications. The minimum number of classifications which must be marked for each project is one Primary and no Secondary classifications for each of the 6 dimensions of the scheme. Primary classifications should be used to summarise the main focus of the project. On each dimension, the project should be assigned to as small a number of Primary classifications as possible ideally, only to one, but there will be many instances where this is not possible or not appropriate. For example, the Environmental Domain dimension of a project on whales

14 and their habitat would probably need to be marked both as other mammals and as deep oceans. Detailed guidance is provided by the Classification Scheme Manual, by the training scheme, in the coding form hints, in the help file, and if necessary will also be given in separate communications, and in response to specific queries from coders. Secondary classifications can be assigned more freely, but please try only to assign classifications which you believe are significant, and are genuinely associated with the project, not ones which are trivial, or which the applicant has mentioned in passing in the hope that this will attract funding. It is immaterial whether Keyword markings, for projects which are not, or not entirely, environmental research, are marked as Primary or as Secondary codings. For consistency, we suggest a working rule that they are marked as Primary. Limits on the maximum number of Primary assignments which should normally be made for each dimension for each project have been built in to the coding form. If you exceed the limit, you will be warned of this when you try to validate the project or to mark it as completed, but you will not be prevented from exporting the batch. Limits are also set on the number of Secondary assignments which can be made in each dimension, but the limit currently in use is large. At the time of writing, the maximum number of primary classifications for each project on each dimension has been set at: 2 Frascati codes 1 Primary purpose code 4 Human Domain codes 5 Environmental Domain codes 5 EPICS codes (but see note about Facets in Chapter 3 of the Classification Scheme Manual; one primary code on each facet of a classification, eg E2.2.A and E2.2.B, counts as one primary code in total). 4 Geography codes Adjustments may be made to any of these limits as a result of experience during the coding process The physical process of coding To assign a classification using the mouse, use single mouse clicks to navigate around the categories and a double mouse click to assign a category to the project (it will be assigned as a Primary classification by default). Categories which have subcategories under them are displayed with a to their right. When you click on a category which has subcategories, the subcategories will be displayed in the next column to the right (and so on, to as many levels as appropriate). If necessary, the display will scroll to enable you to see subcategories. Always assign a project to the most detailed level of classification which is appropriate. Double click on the category (or subcategory) name to assign it as a Primary classification for that project. To assign it as a Secondary classification, either use Control + double click, or right click on the mouse whilst the cursor is over the category name; a short list (context menu) will be displayed (Primary, Secondary, None, Mark project completed, Validate project, and Help). Click on Secondary to select it. You can also change an assignment using this context menu. You can also use the keyboard to navigate around and assign codes. Navigate up or down to the appropriate category using the keyboard up and down arrows, use the right keyboard arrow to move to a subcategory and the left arrow to move back up the hierarchy again. To

15 assign a classification, press the space bar on its own to assign as a Primary classification, or press Control + space bar to assign as a Secondary classification. You can remove either a Primary or a Secondary classification by pressing the space bar on its own. The space bar on its own toggles between Primary and None; Control + space bar toggles between Primary and Secondary. You can use the mouse or the keyboard interchangeably to navigate and assign classifications, as you wish. Primary assignments are indicated by a bright yellow background, and Secondary assignments by a bright green background. When an assignment of either type has been made, the path to it is indicated by a pale green background under all the relevant category and subcategory names. Almost all of the main categories and subcategories are available to assign to projects. Certain items are not appropriate as assignments (eg EPICS E5.A, E5.B and E5.C); these are shown in light grey type and cannot be assigned by either mouse clicks or the keyboard space bar Review of codings use of the Echo list You will find the Echo list (Echo tab on Echo pane) a useful way of keeping track of what codings you have applied to a project and whether these make sense when viewed alongside the project description. Check the Echo list at any time, and always look at it when you think you have completed coding a project; you may notice anomalies or uncoded dimensions, and you are more likely to remember to click on the Mark Completed button before moving on to the next project (see section 3.4 below) Use of the Notes section The Notes section should always be used to add a brief topic description whenever a project has been classified in an Other category, so that topics which do not appear as specific entries in the current edition of the classification scheme, but on which a significant amount of work is being done, can be picked out and, if appropriate, added to the classification scheme. The Notes section should also be used to note any comments or queries when the coder has any difficulty in classifying a project, or any suggestions or messages to the database team about the project. 3.4 Validation and completion of projects You may at any time check whether your coding of a project meets the current coding rules by clicking on the Validation button located on the Echo pane. If the project s coding does not meet the rules an error message will be displayed which explains how the rules have been violated. Please try to meet the coding rules if possible, but you may ignore the violation if you believe it is necessary to do so in order to achieve a correct and informative classification. When you have completed coding a project please click on the Mark Completed button, also on the Echo pane. This will automatically run the validation routine and show any errors. If there are no errors, it will mark up the project as having been completely coded and the Mark Completed button will be disabled whilst that project is displayed. If you

16 subsequently change the coding of the project, the Mark Completed button will be reenabled; please click on the button again when you have finished recoding the project. When you have coded all the projects in the batch that you are able to code, and marked them as completed, click on the Export Batch button on the toolbar. A warning message will be displayed if not all the projects have been marked as completed but you will still be able to export the batch if you answer Yes to the warning. A save dialog box will appear; save the exported file in an appropriate folder on your PC and then attach it to an to send it back to the database team