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Data assembly means gathering together all the checked, edited and coded questionnaires, diaries or other forms of record, and entering the values for each variable for each case into data analysis software. This is usually achieved in a framework of rows and columns for storing the data called a data matrix. Data matrices are explained in more detail in Chapter 3. The range of software for assembling data is briefly reviewed at the end of Chapter 4. Some researchers like to assemble data first into a spreadsheet like Excel before exporting to a survey analysis package. Some survey analysis software packages allow the researcher to enter the data by clicking the appropriate box against the answer given on an electronic version of the questionnaire. In the background, the software creates the data matrix. The researcher does not need to pre-code response categories in the questionnaire nor engage in post-coding when the questionnaires have been completed. With online surveys, the data matrix is automatically built up as respondents submit their completed online questionnaires. Box 2.1 explains how to enter data into SPSS, the package that will be used throughout this text.

Mistakes can, of course, occur in the data entry process. Any entry that is outside the range of codes that have been allocated to a given variable will quickly show up in a table. Provided the questionnaires have been numbered, it is a simple matter to check the number of the respondent from the data matrix where the wrong codes have been entered and find what the code should have been from the questionnaire. In some packages any entry that is outside of a specified range will be flagged as the data are being keyed in. To detect erroneous codes that are inside the specified range, data may be subjected to double-entry data validation. In effect this means that the data are entered twice, usually by two different people, and any discrepancies in the two entries are flagged up by the computer and can be checked against the original questionnaire.