Data Hacks - Ways to Improve Your Data Management, Analysis, and Statistics Procedures

So, there's no pithy way to summarize all of the content of this blog, but the over-arching purpose is to share my experience with how to make management of data as simple and efficient as possible.  This means streamlining processes, automating processes, reducing possibility for error, and setting up databases optimally from the beginning.  A lot of these goals are accomplished through harnessing the existing power of features of software you already own, free software packages, and how to respond to that all-too-common thought of "there must be a better way to do this" with cold calculation and not flushed panic. 

This is a blog for graduate students, researchers, academics, secretaries, research project coordinators, and other people who manage data and would like to learn a few new tricks along the way.  I have a social sciences (Clinical Psychology) and multivariate statistics background, so a lot of my examples will come from this world. 

I welcome your specific project details and data management problems -- I am here to help and could always use the diversity of examples.

A few examples of what I'll go over in this blog:

• How to use Advanced Find and Replace features of Word for powerful manipulations
• How to appreciate the immense power of Excel for your everyday life
• How to organize your thoughts, files, and manuscripts with the Holy Trinity of Note programs: Evernote, OneNote and EndNote.
• How to run tedious calculations and statistical analyses quickly, efficiently, and with limited room for error.  
• How to speed up your data entry procedures.
• Keeping your data backed up, organized, and optimized for efficiency.

 I've been thinking about writing these tips and tricks out for years now, so let the journey begin!