Benefits

• Highly accurate data collection based on reporting on a single, recent episode of care. Objective reporting about a recent event-generally within the past 72 hours-eliminates the need for "mental averaging" across multiple events, minimizes the extent to which participants must make subjective inferences, and reduces perceptual and recall biases.
  
  
• Internet-based data collection will result in a large, high-quality dataset that can be instantly summarized and made available for analysis.
  
  
• The real time feature of the PracticeNet system allows the data to "feed back" quickly to participating psychologists for use in improving their practices.
  
  
• Broader characteristics of psychologists' practice patterns can be aggregated from the basic unit of observation-the individual episode of service, the naturally occurring and most fundamental level of care. PracticeNet can be used to address questions about the general practice patterns of psychologists in a particular domain of service delivery or type of service setting, specific practice behaviors, or specific client characteristics.
  
  
• Data can also be analyzed in more disaggregated form to address questions that are more process-oriented and concerned with patterns of care among specific patient populations.