7. Lookup

Where you have a field which contains a limited list of items which will be regularly entered then a lookup list can help to reduce errors.

For example:

- a shop might put the dress sizes into a lookup list

- a car showroom might put the car models into a lookup list

- a vet might list the most popular types of animals that they deal with e.g.

The benefits of a lookup list are that they:

- speed up data entry because it is usually much faster to pick from a list than to type each individual entry

- improved accuracy because they reduce the risk of spelling mistakes

- limit the options to choose from by only presenting the required options

However, using a lookup validation technique does not prevent someone from still entering data into the field and so mistakes can still be made.