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Topic: Report - recorder making up data?

I have recently been extracting records for a particular site and when I run either a quick report or a report through the wizard I have found a number of records are returned which are not present in the survey data when checked via observer, date and location. In one instance the taxon observation had a 10 figure grid reference and it was possible to check back - what appears to be happening is the correct taxon appears in the report and an additional taxon is added - in this case the correct taxon was Succisa pratensis and an additional record of Symphoricarpos albus was added.  Other rogue taxa include Lychnis (Silene) flos-cuculi, Silene noctiflora, Sonchus arvensis, Trifolium dubium, Trifolium subterraneum, Valeriana dioica, Veronica hederifolia, Viburnum opulus, Viola riviniana - these appear to be associated with correctly reported taxa - although the original cannot be identified with certainty in all cases - the original records would appear to be Silene dioica, Silene latifolia, Sonchus asper, Trifolium sp?, Trifolium sp?, Urtica dioica, Veronica chamaedrys?, Viola odorata. Since I had carried out the orginal survey it was easy for me to spot the additional taxa and to check the survey data entered into Recorder - however if this hadn't been the case I wouldn't necessarily have spotted it. The question is how common are such reporting errors? Has anyone else experienced this and how does it arise and how can it be prevented? - as clearly it is not very helpful!

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Re: Report - recorder making up data?

I wouldn't have thought this is a common problem, but we need to understand why it is happening and resolve it. All the report Wizard does is generate SQL queries so whatever is happening  is because something in the query is causing it to include the additional taxa.   

Please could you save one of the wizard reports which causes this to happen. At the end of the report  generation when you click on finish you will get the option to save the report. This will generate a .wzd file which will contain the basic SQL. If you can send it to me or attach it I will investigate.

Mike Weideli