Data Cafe: A Dining Car Approach to Educational Research Data 
Management and Distribution 

A. Knight, K. Almeroth, and H. Zhang      R. Mayer and K. DeLeeuw
Department of Computer Science            Department of Psychology
University of California                  University of California
Santa Barbara, CA  93106-5110             Santa Barbara, CA  93106-5110

Researchers are investigating the effect of technology-supported 
instructional methods on the learning process. One team investigating 
this effect is the Technology in Education (TIE) group at the 
University of California, Santa Barbara. A problem these researchers 
faced, however, was how to collect and distribute the data needed for 
the wide variety of analyses. The team designed the Data Cafe
statistical database application to provide access and an intuitive 
interface. Furthermore, the application also provides an up-to-date 
online codebook shared amongst the entire research team. This paper 
describes this application and shows that it is scalable and flexible. 
The Data Caf provides a diverse group of researchers with a simple to 
use interface that allows them to download exactly the data they need 
in exactly the format they need it.