sharing experiences with mobile devices data collection in uganda 0

SHARING EXPERIENCES WITH MOBILE PHONE DATA COLLECTION IN UGANDA FLAVIA KYEYAGO OUMA UGANDA BUREAU OF STATISTICS 14th October 2015 REGIONAL WORKSHOP & CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF MOBILE TEC

SHARING EXPERIENCES WITH MOBILE PHONE DATA COLLECTION

IN UGANDA

FLAVIA KYEYAGO OUMA

UGANDA BUREAU OF STATISTICS

14th October 2015

REGIONAL WORKSHOP & CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES FOR STATISTICAL PROCESSES; UNITED NATIONS

CONFERENCE CENTER, ADDIS ABABA, ETHOPIA; 13-16 OCTONER 2015

 Introduction

 Pre Mobile CIS issues

 Design & Methodology

 Data collection and Extraction

 Lessons

 Benefits

 Challenges

 Conclusions

 .

INTRODUCTION

 Mobile Data Collection (MDC) - use of mobile phones, tablets or PDAs for data collection

 Many platforms that can be used to design surveys to collect specific data i.e statistical data, photographs, data from a preselection, voice recordings, GPS coordinates, etc

 Platforms vary in ease of use, cost, and features

 sample sizes, budgets, technology services

 data quality requirements

 Variances in the interfaces, server side components like databases, data reporting and management interfaces and available technology services and infrastructure

 Mobile Data Collection Application Trends:

 Development of Native applications installed on the data collection device

 The use of the browser based software to collect and send data to an Application

server

INTRODUCTION

Information System (CIS)

readily available up to date information

processing

included technical and non technical issues that led to the exercise stalling

Pre Mobile CIS issues

 Infrastructure limitations no

electricity and room at

Sub-counties

 Limited HR for entry even at

both Sub county & district

level

 Entry required long term

employment not sustainable

 Data delays and data

obsolete yet wanted real

time data for planning at

that level

 lack of integration of the

data

- In 2011, the growing use of mobile phones pushed the IT team to innovate and experiment the use pf mobile phones on the CIS project

- The developed a web based solution which could be accessed through the web browsers that are native on the mobile phone

- Was done with the objective of introducing the alternative of MDC

- Reduce on some of the infrastructural limitations

Design & Methodology

 The Web application was designed by the IT Team at UBOS using previous

experience

 This web interface is accessed through phones with web browsers

 Why Web - web is ubiquitous in nature and can be accessed by any device, anywhere, anytime

 Scope : 5 Modules with about 25 questionnaires, that included administrative data on health, education, financial institutions, general operations

 Technology and Application : mobile device phones with sim cards, Designed using HTML5, CSS, PHP and Java Script for the front end & Mysql for the back end

 Server was configured at UBOS § IT team monitored data transmission,

aggregation and extraction



Design & Methodology

 The conceptual stages involved

 designing the form,

 deploying the Form on the server,

 deploying the form on the device,

 collecting data, sending data to

the server and

server and analyzing the data

 the Client module - functionalities of

getting blank forms from the web server

to a mobile phone and also filling the

forms and sending the forms to the server

 allows for setting logical question flow–

thereby making non-applicable questions

hidden from enumerator,

 Administration Module : for data

management , data reports, data

exportation, data visualization

Data collection & Extraction

 Testing : 3 Districts (Urban/Rural)

 Training : Done at the Sub county level

 Staffing

 Enumerators – CDOs – Parish and Village

 Supervisors – District Planners & Population Officers

 Supervisors – UBOS

 Rolled out to date in about 12 districts

through the browser, with user name &

Password

 Data is captured via the mobile client

and sent via the internet using mobile

data transmission technologies (edge or

GSM) to a central server at UBOS.

 Once a user has filled in the questionnaire, they are able to submit the data and get a notification message that the data has been submitted

 Validation is done on the phone before the data

is sent to the server

 No data is stored on the phone

 Set validation checks are programmed into the system for answers entered ( logic skips)

 some data cleaning is already completed due to these features built into the system

 system is real time it allows for prompt review of data quality and makes auditing much easier

 Data can be exported to different formats: CSV,

Ms Excel

MCIS Project planning

Design & Testing by the UBOS IT team 10 weeks

Lessons

 Piloting and iteration are critical

 Decide on the course of actions

 target data collection efforts to the needs and

usage the CIS

 eliminated the fears of the government

officials

 Technology and Team

 Composition of the team ( IT & Statisticians)

  Training and Support

 4 days of In-depth training of enumerators

and supervisors (questionnaire/System/Trial )

and continuous support

  

 .

 Data integrity and security

 Project planning

order to loose any time factors

 System should be fully developed

 before the actual data collection exercise where possible

 Learning curve

Benefits/ Results

 Reduced time

 Faster, received in real time

 of data collection impacting on presentation of findings

 the combination of Data extraction and data entry Processes

 Provision of real time data and improved data monitoring process

 Reduced cost

 reduced paper use , storage space and paper waste

 More innovation which has lead to more capacity built and Adoption

   More support from management, more awareness, training support

 Sustainable system that can obtain data on a regular basis



 .

Challenges

 Fears to move from PAPI to CAPI – keep adopting and improving

 Lack of Policy on Mobile phone use -

 Training the CDOs – slow learning curve, emphasize key point & give support

 Internet Connectivity

 Poor network coverage - change sim cards to the network that is available/ adding an offline mode

 Battery life

 Phone batteries would not last the whole day

 – charge with the local area centres and also some have backups and others would use their phones.

  using the in-built touch keypad

 size of keypad especially for a very long questionnaire was seen a problem

 Errors

 small keys -correcting mistakes -decimal point

 Data sharing to other MDAs is not yet very feasible

Policy Issues

With the increasing data

demands, NSOs should put in

place policies that support

mobile phones usage

Budgeting and planning for

such projects is important

Capacity building and

encouraged

Infrastructure issues

 Network connectivity shortcomings –

consider using off line platforms

that can expand network coverage

(PPPs)

 Expand the use of Mobile phones to

 Push for more support and collaboration from developing partners and TRIs

 Do more research on the best platforms (Cross sectional and long term surveys)

 Distinguish factors responsible for error rates

 Measure the CBA by carrying out the same survey with both Paper & Mobile for comparison purposes

Data Management issues

 Management of the full data production cycle

to dissemination and archiving stages should considered