In support of their ongoing work in schools, they recently embarked on a baseline study to inform these efforts.

The baseline survey involves asking about a variety of topics, including sensitive questions where respondent privacy is paramount. In order to receive honest answers, respondents need to feel that no one else can observe their responses and that they will remain anonymous. WhizzKids selected Mobile Researcher to conduct the study and installed the mobile application on 50 low cost handsets which are handed out to learners, one class at a time. Each handset is preloaded with the baseline survey and a facilitator is present to assist each learner in completing the survey and answer questions they may have.

The use of Mobile Researcher in this fashion is one of the first examples of Mobile Assisted Self Interviewing (MASI), and represents a low cost, lightweight, and more personal version of the more traditional CASI (Computer Assisted Self Interviewing). MASI also leverages users’ familiarity with a mobile phone, and as WhizzKids report, “respondents find the survey more engaging”.

Read more about the use of Mobile Researcher for this project and their experience with the software on the WhizzKids United blog.

The API leverages Microsoft ADO .NET Data Services which currently supports exchanging entities using either JSON or ATOM (an XML-based feed format). Furthermore the API supports a rich query interface that supports filtering, sorting and query expansion. To find out more about the API and the functionality it supports, please refer to the Mobile Researcher API guide.

To illustrate the capability of leveraging the API from a platform other than the one it is developed and hosted on, we have built a simple Java wrapper which is available here. The wrapper supports querying the API for submissions and their associated responses. In time we will add further samples developed in other languages.

If you would like to find out more about the Mobile Researcher API or have any problems accessing it please feel free to send us an email at support@mobileresearcher.com.

Resources:

Mobile Researcher API Guide – Download
Java Wrapper – Download

However, where data to be collected by fieldworkers are primarily quantitative in nature, here are my top 10 reasons (in no particular order) to use a good mobile data collection service (I’d like to include Mobile Researcher in that category but will let others decide that):

1. Capture once: With Mobile Researcher, you only capture the data once – in the field during survey conduction – it is then available for export as an Excel file (for example) once it has uploaded from the handset.
2. Validate in the field: Mobile Researcher allows you to design logic and validation rules which prevent many common erroneous entries (the clichéd “pregnant male”, accidentally skipped questions, etc) in the field. As there’s no separate data capture involved, there are also fewer points of failure.
3. Reduce latency: Data collected via Mobile Researcher is available for analysis as soon as it is uploaded – typically within a few minutes. This allows for faster analysis, near real-time data cleaning (automated or manual) and the opportunity to pick up anomalies while the study is in progress rather than weeks or months afterwards.
4. Conserve the environment: Obviously not using paper saves money and trees. We’ve had thousands of survey responses, each equivalent to 50 printed pages or more, captured using Mobile Researcher.
5. Reduce cost: In many cases, using Mobile Researcher is actually cheaper than paper (apart from the other benefits).  This is due to the removal of the exhausting print, distribute, collect and capture processes.
6. Increase flexibility: Surveys can be modified very easily – even with fieldworkers in the field. Survey design errors can be corrected, missed questions added, confusing questions rephrased, etc.  That’s very expensive and logistically taxing with paper.
7. Monitor activity: Using Mobile Researcher you can see what time surveys were started and completed. If the handset is GPS-enabled, we will also stamp the location of where the survey took place.
8. Improve data integrity: Once data has been captured using Mobile Researcher a full audit trail is maintained recording who modified data (if they even have permission to do so), when it was modified and what it was modified from and to.  Ensuring data is able to be cleaned without being incorrectly altered is more challenging on paper.
9. Preserve confidentiality: Once data has been captured on Mobile Researcher, it is securely transmitted to our servers.  Only authorised personnel you grant access to can view the data (there are other very granular permissions as well).  Our systems utilise the same level of encryption used by online banks.
10. Simplify survey conduction: Fieldworkers don’t need to understand branching or skip logic – this is built into the design of the survey.  Based on their response to each question, they are automatically directed to the next appropriate question.  This simplifies training substantially – particularly where prerequisites are complex.

I’ve covered some of the challenges involved in paper-based data collection in several previous posts but here I wanted to summarise the key factors I feel are important.

Perhaps there are other factors which are more important to you? Or are their areas where you disagree? Feel free to post your thoughts.

Breadcrumb

A Breadcrumb is a common navigational element used on many websites to allow users to orientate themselves and quickly move from one place to another with relatively few clicks. The term originates from the age-old fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel who leave breadcrumbs behind them in the hope of finding their way home.

In the research console, the breadcrumb has been implemented to indicate the current:

1. Organisation / account
2. Selected study
3. Selected survey. If a survey is selected, the survey’s status will also be displayed.

Account: Clyral; Study: Training; Survey: Training Demo

Clicking anywhere on the Breadcrumb will open the Quick-switch panel which has been reworked to make navigation substantially easier.

Quick-switch

Although the Quick-switch is not altogether new (you were always able to open it by clicking on the arrow at the top left of the screen) we have redesigned this feature to provide a much more intuitive and comprehensive set of navigation options.

The Quick-switch provides instant access to every study and survey which you have permission to access. Simply select the study and then choose the survey you’d like to access. You will be redirected to the same tab you’re currently viewing but with the chosen survey in context. Alternatively, if you’d like to see an overview of activity for a study, select it from the Quick-switch then click the “Dashboard” link at the top right.

The Quick-switch panel provides access to all studies and surveys.

Depending on the permissions you have been granted, you may also be able to create new surveys and studies from the Quick-switch panel.

Ribbon

If you’ve used Microsoft Office 2007, you’ll be familiar with the concept of a ribbon. When you select one of the main function groups (such as Home, Insert, View, etc), a ribbon with additional actions related to the group appears. The use of a ribbon in the research console provides access to common functionality based on the main tab selected.

Actions available from the dashboard ribbon

By enabling this service for a fieldworker’s SIM card, you are able to automatically specify recharges consisting of airtime, data, SMS bundles or a combination. Configured recharges take place without your intervention and only if a fieldworker’s credit drops below a predefined threshold.

By recharging with data only, misuse of provided airtime can be dramatically reduced along with the associated logistics of monitoring, purchasing and loading of traditional airtime.

Currently this service is available for all prepaid Vodacom and MTN SIMs in South Africa.

Please contact us should you wish to enable this service and for pricing information.

With contributions from individuals such as Erik Hersman (of White African and Ushahidi acclaim), Steve Vosloo (a fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation), Vincent Maher (internet services portfolio manager at Vodacom) and a range of others including representatives from the Kenyan government and industry players, the conference promises to be a melting pot of ideas and a platform to share experiences.

Our own Mark Fowles will be in attendance and will no doubt be tweeting about the event. He’ll also share some of the new Mobile Researcher features due to be launched officially in February and our latest initiative – Mobenzi – which seeks to create sustainable jobs by croudsourcing solutions to business problems from low income mobile phone users.

If you’re attending the conference, please be sure to get in touch.

The article is available for download here but I’d like to highlight some key findings and comments:

Overall, our findings demonstrate that mobile phone based data collection is feasible at scale.

The software application and web-based interface enhanced real-time supervision of data collectors.

Real-time supervision of CHW performance was a significant advance over previous implementation work.

The automated graphs and real-time information allowed supervisors to focus their time on other aspects of quality control and solving logistical difficulties in the field.

Our experience with a large scale baseline survey suggests that the real-time quality control and data collector supervision enabled by the use of a mobile phone based survey system make this an attractive management option and preferable to a paper based approach.

One clarification I’d like to make on a point mentioned in the publication is that although the source code for the custom management system as described in the article may be released under an open source license agreement (at the election of the software sponsor), there is no intention (at present) for the core Mobile Researcher source code to be released under such an agreement.

For us, it’s a strong indication that the use of mobile and web technologies is becoming more widely accepted in the public health community as a viable and valuable tool in tackling primary health care issues.

The presentations at the conference where Mobile Researcher was involved include:

• Experiences of using cell phones in data collection in a large scale project (V. Magasana, P. Ijumba, Z. Msimela, S. Ndwandwe, N. Radebe, M. Msweli, S. Mavuso)
• Using a web based information system to manage the implementation of a randomised controlled trial (P. Ijumba, Y. Singh, M. Tomlinson)

Several other organisations present findings on studies where Mobile Researcher was also leveraged as a data collection tool.

As we work with a number of organisations with a strong focus on public health, we’ll be there to highlight how mobile and web technologies are being used to solve real public health challenges, particularly for initiatives involving community-based health workers and randomised control trials. Using mobile phones as the catalyst, practical health information systems can be established which can be used for logistics management, fieldworker monitoring, participant and patient tracking, monitoring and evaluation, and pure data collection.

We’ll also be demonstrating the latest feature enhancements to our mobile application which are due to go live in a few weeks. A few of the organisations who are using Mobile Researcher in their projects will also be presenting papers at the conference.

We hope to see you at the conference – please feel free to drop by our exhibition stand to engage, challenge and brainstorm with us. We’ll have a few handsets there for anyone interested to try out the mobile application for themselves.

One way to prevent airtime being used for personal calls and messaging is to convert it into data – which can only be used for internet connectivity from the handset. Although it is still possible for a fieldworker to use data inappropriately (such as for personal web browsing), the risk of large amounts of airtime being used is significantly reduced.

On the Vodacom network for example, there are a number of ways to purchase prepaid data bundles, but a really simple way to purchase a data bundle is via SMS. Once you’ve provided the fieldworker with sufficient airtime, they must simply be instructed to send an SMS specifying the bundle they need to purchase to a toll-free number. For example, to purchase a 5MB data bundle from Vodacom, they would send “MYMEG 5″ to the Vodacom short code “100″.

Purchasing a 5MB data bundle from Vodacom via SMS

To simplify the process even further, it may be worthwhile to save this message as an SMS template (supported by most handsets), which the fieldworker can use to initiate the request when instructed by a supervisor (usually on a monthly basis).

At the time of this post, a 5MB data bundle from Vodacom cost R9.25 and data bundles can carry over for a maximum of 60 days. More information on pricing and data bundle options can be found on Vodacom’s website.

You can also use USSD to purchase data bundles. MTN offer a similar service, via USSD, whereby the fieldworker dials a “USSD string” depending on the size of the bundle they wish to purchase. More info is available on MTN’s USSD FAQs page.

Even a 5MB data purchase is usually sufficient for even the most productive fieldworker – although obviously this depends on the nature and frequency of the data they collect.