A  DATA CAPTURE form is often essential if you are collecting information to type into into a database. Look at the example below to see how they are used.
 

First Name                  |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|

Second Name             |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|

Sex   (  M or F )            |__|
 

Date of Birth   ( Day / Month / Year )

                      |__|__|__|__|__|__|
 

Have you seen the television advertisements ( featuring Gary Lineker ) for Walkers Crisps?
Please tick the appropriate box

Yes |__|

No  |__|

Have you bought Walkers Crisps in the last week?

Yes |__|

No  |__|
 

This data capture form could be used to collect information about the numbers of people who have seen an advertisement on television. This information could then be entered into a database for analysis. e.g.  A simple search procedure could be constructed to tell us how many males under 30 have seen the Walkers Crisps advertisements.

Using boxes to enter first name, second name and date of birth means that responses are more likely to be readable.

Data capture forms may be read by people and then typed into a database. Some data capture forms are directly entered into a computer database e.g. National Lottery entry forms are "read" by an optical mark reader (OMR). Optical mark readers are also used to read multiple choice examination papers. In the case of multiple choice examination papers the data being captured is the knowledge levels of the examination candidates.

Another example of data capture forms is the cards filled in by gas and electricity meter readers. This information is then entered into a computer and used to produce bills.