7. Data Collation After data collection, the nurse and the team are now ready to put together all facts and figures to generate Lnfonna tion about the health status of the community. Two types of <lut., arc gcncru1cd. They are either nu111eric. 1I or descriptive data. Nu~erical data arc those which can be counted like age or how nwny children are there in a family or how many communal toilet;; arc there in the community. Descriptive data are those that can be descdbed or that can reveal characteristics of an observable fact. The nurse cxpl;:1i11s the importance of data types and characteris Lics to facilitate data col. lation. Even before the actual data gathering. the nurse and team should have already developed a plan for data collation. This is done by creating or constructing categories fur classifit:alion of responses. In creating the categnries, r Jne must make sure that these are mutually exclusive and exhaustive. Mutually exclusive choices do not overlap. This means that a re.,;ponse can only fall in one category from a set of choices. This is tnie for both numerical and descriptive data. Taken look at the examples: To classify gender or seic: 0 Male D Female To classify monthly income: 0 Below Php 10,000 0 Php 10,001-15,000 0 Php 15,001-10,000 0 Php 20,001-25,000 D Php 25,001 and above Exhaustive categories anticipate all possible answers that a respondent may give. For example: Question: What famfly planning method/s are YQU using? C..l Lactational Amenorrhe a Method I. J Natural o Basal body temperature o Cervical Mucus Method o s. ymptotherm al Method 0 Standard Days Method o Others (specify); ll Artificial o IUD O Pills O Injectable (DMPA) 0 Condom o Others (spe. cify): Permanent o Tubal ligation o Vasectomy 169 