Abstract
Social programs often require collection of demographic and program related information. Pen-paper surveys have been the most favorable way of collecting such information. However, with proliferation of smartphones, low cost mobile connectivity with good coverage and availability of several data collection applications that can even work around the connectivity concerns, pen-paper surveys are now being replaced by mobile based data collection. In this work, we discuss the enhancement of Open Data Kit (ODK), an existing mobile based data collection application, with features such as pre-filling and validation SMS. The additional features were motivated from the real world requirements of reducing the data collection effort and minimizing the discrepancies in records for a project requiring information dissemination to beneficiaries of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a government of India scheme. Data collection exercise, using our extended tool, is currently ongoing in two districts across two different states in India. Preliminary results from one deployment indicate that even with 8% of pre-filled fields in a form, there was a 16.1% decrease in the errors. Additionally, time per survey reduced with the pre- filling option. Preliminary results from another deployment indicate that 35% of the pre-filled forms had mismatched or changed information when compared with the data available in government records.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development, ICTD 2013 |
| Pages | 45-48 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Volume | 2 NOTES |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 6th International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development, ICTD 2013 - Cape Town, South Africa Duration: Dec 7 2013 → Dec 10 2013 |
Other
| Other | 6th International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development, ICTD 2013 |
|---|---|
| Country | South Africa |
| City | Cape Town |
| Period | 12/7/13 → 12/10/13 |
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Keywords
- Data collection
- Open data kit
- Survey
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Software
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
- Computer Networks and Communications
Cite this
Simplifying and improving mobile based data collection. / Gupta, Abhishek; Thapar, Jatin; Singh, Amarjeet; Singh, Pushpendra; Srinivasan, Vivek; Vardhan, Vibhore.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development, ICTD 2013. Vol. 2 NOTES 2013. p. 45-48.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Simplifying and improving mobile based data collection
AU - Gupta, Abhishek
AU - Thapar, Jatin
AU - Singh, Amarjeet
AU - Singh, Pushpendra
AU - Srinivasan, Vivek
AU - Vardhan, Vibhore
PY - 2013/12/1
Y1 - 2013/12/1
N2 - Social programs often require collection of demographic and program related information. Pen-paper surveys have been the most favorable way of collecting such information. However, with proliferation of smartphones, low cost mobile connectivity with good coverage and availability of several data collection applications that can even work around the connectivity concerns, pen-paper surveys are now being replaced by mobile based data collection. In this work, we discuss the enhancement of Open Data Kit (ODK), an existing mobile based data collection application, with features such as pre-filling and validation SMS. The additional features were motivated from the real world requirements of reducing the data collection effort and minimizing the discrepancies in records for a project requiring information dissemination to beneficiaries of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a government of India scheme. Data collection exercise, using our extended tool, is currently ongoing in two districts across two different states in India. Preliminary results from one deployment indicate that even with 8% of pre-filled fields in a form, there was a 16.1% decrease in the errors. Additionally, time per survey reduced with the pre- filling option. Preliminary results from another deployment indicate that 35% of the pre-filled forms had mismatched or changed information when compared with the data available in government records.
AB - Social programs often require collection of demographic and program related information. Pen-paper surveys have been the most favorable way of collecting such information. However, with proliferation of smartphones, low cost mobile connectivity with good coverage and availability of several data collection applications that can even work around the connectivity concerns, pen-paper surveys are now being replaced by mobile based data collection. In this work, we discuss the enhancement of Open Data Kit (ODK), an existing mobile based data collection application, with features such as pre-filling and validation SMS. The additional features were motivated from the real world requirements of reducing the data collection effort and minimizing the discrepancies in records for a project requiring information dissemination to beneficiaries of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a government of India scheme. Data collection exercise, using our extended tool, is currently ongoing in two districts across two different states in India. Preliminary results from one deployment indicate that even with 8% of pre-filled fields in a form, there was a 16.1% decrease in the errors. Additionally, time per survey reduced with the pre- filling option. Preliminary results from another deployment indicate that 35% of the pre-filled forms had mismatched or changed information when compared with the data available in government records.
KW - Data collection
KW - Open data kit
KW - Survey
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892921458&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84892921458&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/2517899.2517929
DO - 10.1145/2517899.2517929
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84892921458
SN - 9781450319072
VL - 2 NOTES
SP - 45
EP - 48
BT - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Development, ICTD 2013
ER -