sys_RespNum ordering in Data1 Table

Question

My understanding of the way sys_RespNum is managed is if I am a respondent who is the 10th person to commence the survey, I will be issued sys_RespNum=10 and if I am the 55th person to commence the survey, I will be issued sys_RespNum=55 and so on ...

If I view the list of sys_RespNum's through the admin module via View/Edit or Search, the sys_RespNum's are in numerical order. The only missing sys_RespNum's are those I may have deleted.

If I look at the Data1 Table (by clicking on Advanced in the admin module ), I noticed the ordering of sys_RespNum are not in numerical order as they are through the admin module via View/Edit or Search?

I'm trying to work out the order but couldn't see a valid reason? What's the reasoning behind this odd order?

Answer 1

The only thing I can think of is databases don't always return results in an exact order unless you specify it using ORDER BY or GROUP BY.  That could be my only hunch.