Lessons on the use of electronic data collection

Charlie Langan charlielangan@ugandacarbon.org Carbon Foundation of East Africa

Amy Lewis – Jenny Farmer – Charlie Langan

Qs

Quick show of hands i. Use of e-data collection?? ii. Knowledge of ODK??

Presentation content

i. Overview of ODK ii. Quick lesson on ODK how to iii. Use of ODK within the ALTER project iv. Lessons learnt with ODK & e- data collection

ODK overview

• What is ODK? Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source set of tools which support mobile data collection solutions for • authoring (Build), • fielding (Collect), & • managing (Aggregate) surveys. ODK surveys can handle standard survey questions, tables, filtered response lists, certain response constraints, skip logic, dynamic references, translations, and much more. ODK uses Xforms code, but provides easy coding options making it accessible & powerful

ODK build

Data input types

Can also display images, sounds, draw pictures etc

Build basic drag & drop web-based interface XLSForm coding in excel using an online converter Xform coding online resources and community

ODK build

ODK build

Relevance/conditional Data constraints Groups and repeat groups Appearance Hints Meta data Language change

ODK collect

For use on any android supported tech: •Phones •Tablets Laptops & websites (through Enketo or other programmes)

On & offline capabilities

Free app (available to download opendatakit.org or Google play)

ODK aggregate

ODK briefcase- Manual transfer of data ODK aggregate- a ready-to-deploy server and data repository (default on Google app engine)

•Blank forms to ODK Collect •Compile and manage submissions •Visualize data (maps and simple graphs dashboard) •Export data (e.g. CSV or KML files) •Publish data to external systems (e.g. Google docs)

ODK plus

Advanced features include •Data audit- text, audio •Field tracking •Pulling down existing data sets •Data encryption

ODK “plus” providers can offer additional functionalities such as preloaded data, dynamic tables.

ODK in ALTER

ALTER Household Survey 335 surveys 15 field days 5 problems surveys – DAS Ended Monday 13th Oct 2014. Data already cleaned and archived.

ODK in ALTER

ALTER Land Management Survey Farmer perceptions of soil fertility Land management practices GPS marking of farmer plots Geo-located soil photos Field data tables

ODK lessons

Many ways to skin the cat- ODK offers flexibility and functionality through a suite of tools that allows you to self tailor it to your needs and resources Data collection/ aggregate- finding the system that’s right. Data Quality Instant feedback on survey questions and enumerator performance. Enumerator feedback- every morning hold an enumerator feedback session, asking about any data queries. Use of high frequency checks and other auditing tools for surveys and data cleaning and quality control

ODK lessons

Data flow Instant data integration with Stata and other programmes (e.g. Q GIS) Ease and security of data transmission over data channels Sharing Easy-to-share and create code. Active, vibrant support and developer community Process Additional lead in time to consider (debugging, trialling, fixing). Don’t be tempted by flexibility. The ability to easily change a survey doesn’t mean you should.

ODK Conclusions

New system -> new thinking. -shouldn’t fear new but careful thinking about needs & resources Hardware considerations. -new logistical challenges power, screen size. Additional and on going enumerator training. Lead in time, additional time is required to debug surveys, and iterative process with paper surveys .. But the revolution in data quality is of huge benefit

More Info

ODK (free) • Site: http://opendatakit.org/ • Google group: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en Formhub (free) • Site: http://formhub.org/ • Formhub University: https://formhub.org/formhub_u/ • Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/formhub-users?hl=en SurveyCTO($) • Site: http://www.surveycto.com/ Enketo ($) • Site: http://enketo.org/

Any Questions ?

Charlie Langan charlielangan@ugandacarbon.org Carbon Foundation of East Africa