Question

I’m trying to come up with a clean database design for a new project I’m working on. One of the data items I need to store in the database will come from an HTML form:

Q1: "Anticoagulated patient?" [YES, NO]

JavaScript;
(If yes is selected, an additional question is displayed):

Q2: "Type of Anticoagulant" [Warfari, Coumarin, Clopidogrel]

My question is, is it necessary to store the first question’s response in the database? To me the data seems redundant. If the type is specified, then it can be assumed that the patient is “anticoagulated”.

Once the form is submitted, the form will be accessed at a later point so the data can be ammended and the interface will need to reflect the state of the database. I should still be able to do this without needing to record the first question:

JavaScript;(If Q2 has a value, then the default option should be set to Yes 
otherwise it should be set to No)

Q1: "Anticoagulated patient?" [Yes, No]

JavaScript;(Only display if Q1 is set to Yes):

Q2: "Type of Anticoagulant" [Warfari, Coumarin, Clopidogrel] 

What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

I would say the extra space required to store the response to question 1 will be far outweighed by the amount of extra logic involved in marking Q2 as implying Q1. Keep it simple!