4.3.4. Spreadsheets and Tables

Your research findings can also be recorded using commercially available spreadsheet software (for example, Microsoft Excel or Corel Quattro Pro) or the table function in commercially available word processing software (such as Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect). By judiciously selecting the columns for your spreadsheet or table, you will be able to record the essential information as described in the Methodology module.

You will also be able to search through your collection of terminology rapidly using the Find or Search function of the software. If your research findings are in more than one language, they can easily be sorted by the terms in any one of the languages, as long as you entered the terms for each language in a separate column. Further, the use of commonly used commercial software means that you can easily share your research findings with colleagues.

The spreadsheet and table options are included in the data recording lesson because they do not provide the data management capabilities of database software.