Primary Sources Are Documents That Were Written

¶ … primary sources are documents that were written during the time under study, those that present facts or opinions from the primary source (e.g. author). They present an inside view of a particular event, but they may not always be 100% accurate since there is room for error or interpretation. Examples of primary sources are: diaries, speeches, interviews, official records, relics of art, creative works, etc. A secondary source, however, interprets and analyzes primary sources -- they are at least one, if not more, steps removed from the event. They are usually the compilation of many primary sources, but can also have quotes, pictures, and details from primary sources. Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, commentaries, encyclopedias, or information gleaned from a second source are examples. Secondary sources may also be reference materials, television or motion pictures, and can also be used to argue or debate a point about a primary source (Defining Primary and Secondary Sources, 2010).

Part 2 -- Definitions

Data -- Characters, symbols, quantities, facts, statistics -- on a computer, signals of information stored on recording material.

Character -- a symbol representing a letter or a number, or a bit pattern used to store a symbol (letters or numerical digits) -- for example, the semi-colon (;)

Field -- data that has several parts is divided into fields or variables, they form the way the information appears in the file, and a field might be ephone [HIDDEN]

Record -- the simplest data structure, a record is a value that contains other values, usually in sequence and indexed, for example, salary

File -- block of arbitrary information, or a place (record) for storing that information; File might equal, salaries for Company XYZ

Information -- knowledge communicated or received; information on the salaries of Company XYZ shows the average annual salary to be $52,900 (Shelly, et.al., 2010).

Part 3

Part 4 -- Define:

EHR -- Electronic Health record -- the relevant data and information for a patient placed into an electronic format.

RHIO -- Regional Health Information Organization -- this is also known as an Health Information Exchange Organization, and is a multistakeholder organization that facilitates the exchange of health related information.

HIE -- Health Information Exchange -- the electronic sharing of health-related information among organizations or an actual organization that provides the services necessary to enable sharing of that information.