Paper-to-Mobile Data Collection: A manual

Collecting data in the field has always been a headache for researchers, students, aid projects, and international organizations alike.

Thanks to technology, we can now collect data through using mobile technology and replace the traditional approaches. Despite the advances in technology, haphazardly collected data tends to be a headache to analyse.

In order to support the use of mobile phones and other handheld devices, US Global Development Lab and their partners have published the “Paper-to-Mobile Data Collection” manual.

Paper-to-Mobile Data Collection: A manual

This manual was designed to provide USAID program and contracting staff an idea of what mobile data collection is and guide its adoption and practice.

The manual is organized around three major sections:-

• What is mobile data collection and what benefits does it offer?
• Evaluating the suitability of mobile data collection tools for a given project;
• How to successfully build the capabilities needed for transitioning to mobile data collection.

Scanning through the manual, one can sense the easy to read approach and also the practical approach for practitioners.

The fore-thought of data analysis and output in the design stage of a project and how mobile technology can help the collection of data is indeed a great strength of the manual.

Why not go through this manual and tell us how it can be applied in your project?