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Explanation of Qdoc Procedures

From its onset, SIGH has received communications from members of the Saluki community, and many of those conversations have brought up a common theme of discussion:  Confidentiality.  The people in the Saluki world have repeatedly expressed their concern about issues of privacy and protection of their names, their dogs, and their bloodlines.  In an ideal world, we would have been able to calm their fears and reassure them that no one on the Saluki scene would ever take their information out of context, misuse it, misquote it, or in any way bring back on the contributor any sort of harm or embarrassment.

Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world.

It is that fact, and this concern (which we at SIGH fully understand and are sympathetic with), that is one of the primary reasons it has taken so much time to get our "Qdoc" complete, and to program the database that will store the information we receive.  Much discussion has ensued between the SIGH committee members regarding this issue, and we feel that discussion has evolved into a solution that should be comfortable for all.

Following is the procedure your information will go through, from the moment it leaves your hands until it is actually an essential part of the SIGH database analysis process.  We hope that this will illustrate just how important your peace of mind is to us at SIGH, and that after reading this document you will come away with not only an understanding, but a sense of trust that your Salukis (and their data) are in good hands.

The "Qdoc" and Data Entry Process

On the "Qdoc" Instructions page, it is requested that you obtain three separate envelopes for your information.  This detail, and the markings you were instructed to place on the backs of two of those envelopes, are a key ingredient to the success and security of the data entry process.  Once sealed and correctly marked, you are instructed to place the two smaller envelopes into a third, large, envelope and mail to your choice of addresses at the bottom of that page.

The reason for this choice in addresses depends on how you view the data submission process.  For some, it may give them the secure feeling that they are sending the information off to someone they already know and/or trust.  Others may prefer, in fact, their choice for the very reason that they are not known by the person they select.  For others, the choice will be made as a matter of geographical location and convenience, or cost of postage.  For us at SIGH, the choices are there simply because we respect your concerns, and felt that offering you a choice was the right thing to do.

Regardless of the address you choose to mail your large envelope to, it is most important to note that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will the person receiving that large envelope open either of the smaller envelopes, nor will they read any of the information you have submitted.  If it will make you feel even more secure, please feel free to double-seal those envelopes with something:  a sticker, a stamp, or even an old-fashioned wax seal.  For the peace of mind of the Saluki community who will be sending data to SIGH, we would like to reassure you that if ever the data entry people receive an envelope whose seal has been broken, the "middle" person who forwarded that envelope on will be removed from the SIGH Qdoc submission list on the Instructions page.  However, we hope it is comforting to you to know, that all who are on the SIGH committee list, including those people, understand and sympathise with the confidentiality issue, and we are confident that this will never become necessary.

The person who receives your data performs two essential functions.  First, he or she will open your LARGE outer envelope, remove your small envelopes, and mark each of them with an IDENTIFYING CODE.  This code is a unique, special number that will be used, later in the process, to match up your IDENTIFYING section of the Qdoc forms with its accompanying MEDICAL section.  This is detailed below.  Second, this person will address each half of your submission to the proper data entry person.  The IDENTIFYING envelope will be mailed to the person who is entering that information into its proper section of the entry database.  The MEDICAL envelope will be mailed to the person who is entering the Medical information into its proper data entry software.

This procedure means that AT NO TIME will any one human being ever see your medical and identifying information together once the Qdoc leaves your hands.  Although the IDENTIFYING info entry person will know who has sent the form, and which dog the form is refering to, he or she will not know what situations have surrounded that animal.  For all they know, they will be handling information on a normal, healthy dog.  Although the MEDICAL information person will know what circumstances surround your dog, there will be no way for them to know who submitted the form or what dog the information refers to.  The only thing both of these people have that is the same is that identifying number the middle-man has printed carefully on each envelope.

The two separate data entry people will type your data into the corresponding sections of the database entry program.  Then, periodically, the entire accumulation of data during that period will be transfered electronically to a THIRD database.  This is where that number that has been applied to your data is utilized.  This database number 3 is the compiling and analyzing software that takes the information sent by the two entry computers and puts it all together, matching up the two halves by that identifying number.  The information is then ENCRYPTED in a special coding process, so that although the computer program itself knows "who and what", anyone accessing that program will get nothing but code as the readout on their screen.

Once the data is entered into the third, compiling, database program, that program will be able to perform analysis and comparison functions on that data.  This process, however, will of necessity be set for a date in the future, as at the moment SIGH is concentrating primarily on collecting enough data to make the analysis process meaningful.


For questions on the database programs themselves, please email Dr. John Burchard, SIGH's programmer.

For questions on the data submission process, visit the Instructions page, or email Lin Jenkins or Gayle Nastasi.
 

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Update: March 26, 1998