Pavel, the idea of using arrays to store long time-series data sounds
good, but I take your point that normalized tables might be better and
are easier to query. I suppose the choice will be between normalizing
or using the denormalized
industry int,
year smallint,
emp_q1 int,
emp_q2 int,
emp_q3 int,
emp_q4 int
as suggested by Peter and Scott. We're mostly actually interested in
annual numbers, but need to preserve the quarterly data for
verification and for unusual analyses. So perhaps storing denormalized
with an additional emp_annual int field, and a view that keeps the
quarterly data out of sight.
Thanks for your replies. Please feel free to comment if you think of
anything else.
Best,
--Lee
--
Lee Hachadoorian
PhD Student, Geography
Program in Earth & Environmental Sciences
CUNY Graduate Center