Data-related questions

What is meant by clean data?
To analyse data with any statistical software package, the data must be formatted in a suitable manner.  A few basic examples include: any data that is a number has to be recorded in the software as just a number; if the units of measurement change, all of the responses have to be converted to a common unit (e.g. height responses may be in metres, centimeters, feet, inches); dates should be in a standard format.  Optimally, if the text is a classification, it should be coded in the data numerically e.g. 0 for male and 1 for female.  These conventions should also be documented along with the dataset. 

Are my data safe?
While every effort will be made to keep the data anonymous and secure, there are some issues you should also be aware of.  Secure data is encrypted and password protected.  Any data that may be traceable to the subjects of a study should be secure.  Anonymous data is data that may be able to be traced, with effort, but is not directly identified to a subject.  There is no reason for a study to supply CSTAR with data which includes information such as patient names.