Plan and Document your Active Data Collection: Because Science is More Interesting when it's True

I have been working on large-scale active data collection projects for about 10 years. In that time, I have read a lot of recommendations, implemented several different strategies, and learned a lot about how to document and manage data collection. Documenting your data collection procedures is an excellent first step in making it easier to share your data when the project is complete. Most of my work focuses on longitudinal data collection with children (primarily students recruited from classrooms), which can require some additional forethought compared than some other primary data collection populations. In this project, I have been presenting my synthesis of the data collection process, from planning through to getting a file ready for analysis. I also include some information in this project about how to share data in an online repository.