The Normal Forms in a Nutshell

Good database design is key to success with application development in Access. The principles for database design in Access are the same as they are in any relational database, and one of the core principles is normalization. Within normaliztion there's a concept called "normal forms". Roger Carlson recently posted a series of articles that explain the normal forms. Take a look. It's a great way to get an introduction to this important concept.

How Should I Structure My Tables for Questionnaires or Surveys

Scenario: casual database developer has built a database for surveys or questionnaires and can't figure out why the queries are becoming so cumbersome.

Turns out there's a right way to design a database for this kind of work, and it's nothing like you'd do it in Excel. Here's an article from Microsoft that describes the right way to manage data like this.

Data Modelling

Good design of your database is really important to developing solutions that work, and that keep working. Here's a post at UtterAccess with links in turn to a couple of great references on data design, including a complete chapter on data modelling from the book Grover Park George On Access available for download. If you're building databases and you don't know anthing about data modelling, you probably should.
Additional reading:

• Database normalization, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Description of the database normalization basics, by Microsoft

** Utteraccess.com link cleaned up 2011-09-05 **

normalization, Database design,

Access Basics for Programming

A longer item than I normally link to, this is a great starting point for several topics related to programming Access and VBA, from Crystal, a frequent poster at UtterAccess.com and a Microsoft Access MVP.

If you're new to Access and/or VBA this might be a great place to start. **This link updated to reflect the Feb 2008 revisions**

Microsoft article "Designing Your Database Application"

This looks like a great primer on application design, focusing specifically on an Access environment.

Database normalization basics document from Microsoft