Challenges and opportunities of a paperless baseline survey in Sri Lanka.

Duleeka W Knipe,David Gunnell,Manjula Weerasinghe,Ravi Pieris,Michael Eddleston,Melissa Pearson,Rasmus Borgstrøm,Chris Metcalfe,Chamil Priyadarshana,Flemming Konradsen

doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-452

Abstract

BackgroundPersonal digital assistants (PDAs) have been shown to reduce costs associated with survey implementation and digitisation, and to improve data quality when compared to traditional paper based data collection. Few studies, however, have shared their experiences of the use of these devices in rural settings in Asia. This paper reports on our experiences of using a PDA device for data collection in Sri Lanka as part of a large cluster randomised control trial.FindingsWe found that PDAs were useful for collecting data for a baseline survey of a large randomised control trial (54,000 households). We found that the PDA device and survey format was easy to use by inexperienced field staff, even though the survey was programmed in English. The device enabled the rapid digitisation of survey data, providing a good basis for continuous data quality assurance, supervision of staff and survey implementation. An unexpected advantage was the improved community opinion of the research project as a result of the device, because the use of the technology gave data collectors an elevated status amongst the community. In addition the global positioning system (GPS) functionality of the device allowed precise mapping of households, and hence distinct settlements to be identified as randomisation clusters. Future users should be mindful that to save costs the piloting should be completed before programming. In addition consideration of a local after-care service is important to avoid costs and time delays associated with sending devices back to overseas providers.DiscussionSince the start of this study, PDA devices have rapidly developed and are increasingly used. The use of PDA or similar devices for research is not without its problems; however we believe that the universal lessons learnt as part of this study are even more important for the effective utilisation of these rapidly developing technologies in resource poor settings.

Highlights

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been shown to reduce costs associated with survey implementation and digitisation, and to improve data quality when compared to traditional paper based data collection
PDA devices provide several benefits when used in resource poor settings, but our experiences highlight important considerations for future users
Contrary to our reservations that training and acceptability of a PDA device programmed in English for inexperienced staff would be difficult, we found that the training of data collectors in the use of the PDA did not take long, and the device was readily accepted

Summary

Introduction

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been shown to reduce costs associated with survey implementation and digitisation, and to improve data quality when compared to traditional paper based data collection. Some of the benefits offered by PDAs have been detailed elsewhere [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] These include the reduced costs of survey implementation and digitisation [5,6,7]; improved data security and quality [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]; reduced survey time [5]; and rapid availability of results [2,3,4,5,7,8]. The aim of the short report is to share our insights and experiences of using PDAs for field data collection in a rural Asian context as part of a large randomized control trial

Methods

Results

Conclusion