Clinical database design question

[osani]

Ok, I am creating a database for a clinical trial and there are 2 forms. The first is the main form which contains, demographics, pain descriptors, and various other clinical information. The second is a follow up questionnaire with similar questions to the first to base improvement analysis from.

Does anyone know if such a database should have a relational design? say a demographics table, a descriptor table, a vitals table, a wellness table, etc. or should the tables be continuous in accordance with the questionnaires?

I am very confused - any advise would help. Thanks.

 

[TPM]

Well DB design can vary depending on what you entering. For examlpe if the answers to the questions are set (ie select A,B or C) then you'd normalize those fields into 1 or more referenced tables. If the short sentence answwers then you might as well keep it all in the one table, as splitting it isn't going to help any. I'd say your probably a mix of both. My suggestion would be something like this:
Table 1 : Subject info (Subject_ID, name, contact ect.)
Table 2 : Questionnaire 1 (Subject_ID, Short answers, Answer_ID)
Table 3 : Questionnaire 2 (Subject_ID, Short answers, Answer_ID)
Table 4 : Answers (Answer_ID, Answer)

This way the subject is linked to both questionnaires, and in turn the multi choice answers.

TPM