What is the purpose of enforcing Referential Data Integrity in a relationship between two tables in Access?

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The question asks about the purpose of enforcing Referential Data Integrity in a relationship between two tables in Access.
Option 1: "to prevent orphan records and to keep references synchronized so that you don't have any records that reference other records that no longer exist". This accurately captures Referential Integrity: it ensures that foreign key values correspond to existing primary key values and prevents references to non-existent records, thereby avoiding orphaned records and keeping data consistent across related tables. This is correct because it directly reflects the core goal of referential integrity.
Option 2: "to keep other tables from being able to connect to these". This is incorrect. Referential Integrity does not restrict connections from other tables in a general sense; instead, it governs the validity of relationships, ensuring that related records exist. It’s about ensuring valid references, not about preventing connections.
Option 3: "to set the foreign key value". This is misleading. While foreign keys are involved in enforcing referential integrity, the act of setting a foreign key value is not the purpose of enforcing referential integrity itself. The constraint enforces that any value in the foreign key column must match a primary key value in the related table; it does not describe the broader aim of integrity enforcement.
Option 4: "to show the table relationships". Displaying table relationships is a design-time or visualization feature, not the enforcement mechanism of referential integrity. Referential integrity operates at the data level to maintain valid references, whereas showing relationships is about documentation or metadata.
Option 5: "to connect the two tables together". This is vague and imprecise. Referencing integrity enforces valid relationships, but it is not primarily about merely connecting tables; it ensures that connections are valid and references exist. The core concept is data validity across related records, not just the act of connecting tables.
In summary, Option 1 is the precise description of Referential Data Integrity, while options 2, 3, 4, and 5 either misstate the purpose, confuse related concepts, or describe ancillary aspects rather than the fundamental goal of maintaining valid, synchronized references across related tables.

CSE 2111 AU2025 (10550) Carmen Quiz 9 - Chapter 10 - Database Concepts

What is the purpose of enforcing Referential Data Integrity in a relationship between two tables in Access?

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