Is it better to store your information in a single parent class or a central static class

Question

I am wondering which is a better way to store information? A central static class or in a parent class?

The code for the way I am storing it now. I instanciate a new class everytime.

Parent Class:

public partial class frmEmployeeManager: Form
    {
        List<Employee> lstEmployees = List<Employee>();
        public frmEmployeeManager()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        public void updatePay(float Pay, int ID)
        {
            //Where ID = ID change the Pay
            //(Omitted the foreach loop here for brevity)
        }
        private void btnDisplayData_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
             frmUpdatePay dlgUpdatePay = new frmUpdatePay(this);
             dlgUpdatePay.ShowDialog();
        }

     }

Child Class:

public partial class frmUpdatePay : Form
{
    private frmEmployeeManager ParentEmployeeManager;

    public frmUpdatePay(frmEmployeeManager EmployeeManager)
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        ParentEmployeeManager = EmployeeManager;
    }
            AddPersonParent.updatePay(fltPayInput, intID);
}

Answer 1

Taking a stab in the dark (since I don't know exactly what you are trying to accomplish), I would make an instantiated class and use a singleton pattern.

Answer 2

Personally I would (and do) use a central static class. Both choices break the OO principles, but at least the central static class approach doens't expose the inner workings of my forms to the outside.

Answer 3

I have gotten myself into trouble before when I used a static list that held the "state" of thing, and I found myself adding static functions to "clear" or "update" the list, etc. So I learned to only use static classes or lists or variables for things that are, well, static-- non-changing.

If you are keeping objects in the list that can change, I would go the instantiated route.

Updated

Now that I see your list is an employee list, converting it to a static basically makes it's a global variable. Global variables are not good. I found this answer which summarizes it pretty well.