PDAs for Data Collection in ResourcePoor Settings

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PDAs for Data Collection in Resource-Poor Settings

• Project HOPEs experience

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What is a PDA?

• PDA Personal Digital Assistant
• Basically, a hand-held computer
• Touch screen use stylus to operate
• Weight 3.8 oz
• Memory 64 MB
• New ones have wireless capacity

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PDA software for programming

• We use the Pocket PC Creation Software
• http//www.pocketpccreations.com/
• Many options exist

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Screen shots
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Check boxes, drop down boxes
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How it works

• Enter data
• (View data)
• Upload data from PDA to computer
• Export to Excel (or other program) for analysis

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Steps to using PDA

• Develop questionnaire on paper
• Test questions
• Thoroughly train staff on use of the PDA,
  including field test
• Set up procedures for uploading and backing up
  data
• Set up databases or excel calculation sheets to
  process and analyze the collected data

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Why staff decided to use PDAs

• Lots of paperwork
• Keep accurate and accessible records
• Provide real-time data
• Technology geeks in key places
• Ruled out other alternatives

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Advantages

• Savings in money, materials, and time
• Increased data quality and cleaner data

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Advantages

• User-friendly and easy to transport
• Less intimidating to respondents than multi-page
  paper questionnaires
• Easy transfer of data to database
• Not labor intensive
• Promotes data utilization
• Environmentally friendly

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Advantages

• Increases capacity of staff
• Technology use
• Provides the tools they need to make decisions in
  the field
• Provides the ability to better manage your
  project and make real-time decisions
• Provides an integrated data system which also
  collects information on the programs everyday
  operating activities

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Disadvantages

• Need human resources to manage and help staff use
  the PDAs
• Equipment requires maintenance and is sensitive
  to damage or possible theft
• Memory capacity is limited
• Once the form is designed and linked to the
  system, changes are difficult

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Disadvantages

• Data must be downloaded as soon as possible to
  prevent possible loss of data
• In rural areas sometimes difficult to get power
  to charge battery

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Settings

• Namibia
• Mozambique

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Settings

• Nicaragua
• Guatemala
• Thailand

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Applications

• Baseline final surveys (child survival KPC
  OVC)
• HIV/AIDS prevention surveys
• Household surveys (economic health data)
• Domestic violence surveys
• Quality assessment checklists
• Village mapping

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Applications
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Recommendations

• Detailed preparation and planning are crucial.
• The ME plan as a whole needs to be clearly
  developed and detailed enough early in the
  project in order to design the information
  system.
• Questionnaire needs to be complete in order to
  create the screens used in the PDAs to collect
  information.

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More recommendations

• Feedback results to data collectors/field
  staff/beneficiaries is important (dont let data
  get entered into machine never to come out
  again).
• Training is essential prior to implementation
• On survey questions (using paper)
• Hands-on with instrument in field
• Backing up data nightly is critical.

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Still more recommendations

• Having a technology champion at the field level
  is crucial to sustainability.
• Having a technology champion at HQ is crucial
  to supporting the field and usually to getting it
  started.

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Conclusion

• Project HOPE has found that PDAs can be an
  effective tool to help programs collect, manage,
  and efficiently use programmatic data in a
  variety of challenging resource-poor settings.