Improving the Quality and Lowering Costs of Household Survey Data Using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). An Application for Costa Rica Luis Rosero-Bixby Jeisson Hidalgo-Céspedes Daniel Antich-Montero Central American Population Center of the University of Costa Rica

The issue Data collection in developing countries uses PAPI (paper and pencil interview) PAPI has problems of data quality, timing, costs, and handling complex questionnaires CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) is not an option. Laptop-based CAPI (computer assisted personal interview) is an improvement over PAPI, but of limited use in developing countries PDA-based CAPI may improve and revolutionize data collection This presentation reports the development of a PDA-CAPI for a complex survey (on ageing) in Costa Rica

Content Nonrandom errors and other deficiencies of PAPI The problems with laptop-CAPI and the advantages of PDA-CAPI PDA-CAPIs in the market--desirable features Our PDA-CAPI architecture Results from the field (tapping reliability, use of graffiti, hardware and software issues)

Nonrandom error in surveys Going to the wrong sampling point (bad maps and addresses) Remotedness and bad transportation limit supervision and re-interviewing Bad copies of questionnaires Wrong marks, skips, annotations Physical lost of questionnaires Data entry errors, delays and costs Fraud

Source of PAPI problems (preventable with CAPI) Error detection takes place in a different place and time than the interview The need of data entry as an extra step (source of errors, expenses, and delays) Lack of monitoring time and place of the interview Difficulties following instructions in complex questionnaires Lack of integration with pre-existent information

Problems with laptops High costs Target for thieves Ergonomics (standing at the household door) Hardware reiability in adverse environment Battery duration

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or palmtop computers Dropping costs and increasing power Great ergonomics Tapping and handwriting Reliable hardware Integration with: – GPS – Photo – Sound recording – Real time – Cell phones Less attractive for thieves Problems: small screen & lack of software

Existing PDA-CAPI software About 10 packages in the market Not cheap Limited features (OK for plain opinion and marketing polls) Devices for reading questions and recording the four basic types of responses: –Single choice mark –Multiple choice marks –Numbers –Text (open questions)

Features in some packages Most can do: –Sub-questioning (e.g. specifying other) –Skips and consistency rules A few can also do: –Controls of data collection flow –Integrate time and space coordinates –Capturing external info such as pictures or sound bytes

Features not currently available Handling long lists of pre-coded answers Organizing the Q in sections with hierarchies, including rosters Hierarchical entities in same observation (household --> individuals --> events) Identifying observations as part of geographic hierarchy (province, canton, township, block…) Keeping logs Coding open questions (expert systems)

Architecture of our EQ-Software

Applications core: EQML Electronic Questionnaire Markup Language XML based, to describe complex questionnaires ¿Tiene esta vivienda servicio sanitario... conectado a alcantarilla pública? conectado a tanque séptico? de pozo negro o letrina? con otro sistema? No tiene

EQ-Software: Modules EQ-Design (PC-Windows) –prepare questionnaires in EQML EQ-Control (PC-Windows) –Handles clusters and observations IDs –Handles data transfer to/from PDA (hot syncs) –Control of missing and duplicated observations –Export data to Stata, CSPro,.DBF, etc. EQ-Collector for Palm –Controls flow, skips, rosters, etc.. –Checks consistency –Saves responses in the PDA memory

Lessons from fieldwork (1,200-hours use, Zire71 PDAs) Complex questionnaire EQML Reliable hardware (1% failure rate) Well accepted Easy training Redundant data transfer No data losses

Results: use of graffiti

Efficiency of graffiti vs. keyboard (seconds per character)

High rates of graffiti corrections (per 100 characters)

Reliability of tapping (vs. marking on paper)

Discussion PDA-CAPI is a cost effective way to improve data quality and timing of household surveys in developing countries CAPI advantages: data error detection and editing takes place in the same place and time: during the interview. No data entry is required. PDA advantages: ergonomics, costs, (tapping and handwriting?) Existing applications in the market are good only for plain opinion or market polls. Application under development in Costa Rica with good results (need of support)