USE OF HAND-HELD DEVICES IN DATA COLLECTION IN THE GAMBIA CENSUS

Introduction The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) used handheld devices in the following household surveys: 1. World Bank funded Nutrition Survey   The devices used in this survey were provided by a WB recruited consulting firm, RTA who determined both the specifications (android) and platform. All that was required of the Bureau was to collect the data. 2. The Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment (CFSVA) This survey commissioned by WFP also had its platform determined although the devices used belong to the statistics office and were also android.

Experience/Lessons In each of the above cases, the software utilized were free.   However, the statistics office did not participate in the building of the programmes. The IT infrastructure and back-end systems for the data collection done with handheld devices were provided and managed outside of the statistics office. In all the cases however, the data transmission was real-time (online).

Experience/Lessons (contd.) The only GIS facility utilized during these data collections was the capturing of the GPS. The use of handheld devices in data collection has changed many aspects of operations. Primarily, the recruitment of field workers has been reviewed to consider basic computer/smartphone literacy. The duration of training, though, has increased a bit to allow for adequate time for training on the devices. The burden of field supervisors has reduced a bit since most controls built into the devices have reduced field editing on supervisors.

Experience/Lessons (contd.) Data quality has improved significantly since the data being collected is monitored real-time on a daily basis and data quality checks and feedbacks are frequently back to teams GBoS is in the process of rolling out on the paper questionnaire to fully adopt the use of handheld devices. This comes with lot of challenges due to the need to frequently update software, poor electricity supply in most parts of the country and poor internet connectively where real-time data is needed.

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