PowerPoint Presentation

Household Survey Goes Green

Pie F. Moya and Esther B. MarcianoPresentation Title Goes Here presentation subtitle. Esther and I will present how our survey goes green; that is saving a lot of papers that could have been used in printing the thousand of pages of questionnaires that that we are using in our numerous household surveys. Through the use of electronic questionnaire we simply use a tablet in the interview instead of the paper questionnaire.

1Technology is growing rapidly. And with the boom of Information technology, the staff at the International Rice Research Institute Social Sciences Division was able to catch up in adapting new technologies with the use of tablets as tools for data gathering. This contributed to huge cost-saving and time efficiency for the division 2Traditional datasets consume a lot of office space and data archives since the 60s

A couple of years ago, we have one big storage room in our former office, to store a lot of completed questionnaires from previous surveys. Researchers are afraid to throw them away for fear of loosing some information that are not encoded due to lack of time and available encoders during the project duration. 3

Data CollectionData AnalysisData ManagementQuality CheckingEncodingTraditional SSD Research Process FlowThis is the traditional research process flow, wherein after the survey an encoder is assigned to do the data entry of the data in the paper questionnaire. Usually a close nd continuous communication is maintained between the researcher and encoder for further clarification on the accuracy of the data being encoded.4

Paper vs. electronicTo shorten this research process flow we thought of replacing the paper questionnaire with an electronic questionnaire using a computer tablet that could easily be brought into the field. Thus eliminating the burden of carrying/shipping a lot of questionnaires during and after the completion of the survey.

5Development In September 2011 The database management team of SSD assessed the viability of using various devices (Android and iOS tablets) and Web-based applications (Google Forms and Survey Monkey) in conducting the digital household survey.

. 6Number of variablesNumber of respondentsFrequency of data collectionConsidering the number of variables that we collected in our household survey; there are hundreds of them usually, the number of respondents (hundreds of them and sometimes usually they are repeated or series of surveys). we cannot simply used the available packages for survey like the survey monkey because of limitation in the number of questions that could be asked as well as the number of respondents. 7The Electronic questionnaire was developed using MS Access based application such that there is no need to buy additional commercial software .

We decided to develop the electronic questionnaire using a common software that is easily available and popular besides it can accommodate a lot of variables or questions aside from easily downloading the data that has been collected. One good advantage is that there is no need to buy addiitonal software or pay annual dues or right to access the program of data that have been collected.8The Esurvey Tablet was first tested on the Central Luzon loop survey project. A 23 page questionnaire targeting 108 respondents was tailored fit to the tablet.9

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11Training of the researchers in using the tablet It took only a day or 2 to understand the use of the Esurvey tablet. the researchers together with the programmer tried it in the field for one day

Staff who are quite experience in using excel or access , and who have experience in using a paper based questionnaire have of course an advantage.12Esurvey tablet Trial. It took two researchers the same amount of time to collect data using a paper questionnaire but with a minimum error, but the data are already encoded and ready to export and integrate to SSDs statistical analysis software such SPSS and STATA. 13 IRRI SSD staff doing HH interview with the use of tablet

14With the use of the tablet; the encoding process was eliminated gives the research team more time to allocate in data analysis rather than rekeying the data sets gathered using the traditional printed questionnaire. Quality of data is more reliable since the inputs are direct from the household. The occasional error in encoding will now be a thing of the past.

15 SSD Research Process Flow

Data CollectionData ManagementQuality CheckingData Analysis

And now the SSdD research Process flow becomes shorter, eliminating the tediuos and time consuming encoding process.16The advantage of implementing the electronic Q using the tabletHuge savings on cost of :- Printing - Encoding- Handling of questionnaires

Only cost would be preventive maintenance

17So far 3 projects have adopted the use of the Esurvey tablet that I have described earlier:Central Luzon Loop survey-Survey on volumetric water pricing project in Cagayan and IsabelaRice industry project in 6 countries in AsiaThese surveys usually consist of 15-20 pages of questionnaire.18EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS IN USING E-TABLET IN ACTUAL FARM HOUSEHOLD SURVEY19

Acer Iconia W51020

Technical Specs

Operating System Windows 8 Screen Size 25.7 cm (10.1")Screen Resolution 1366 x 768Max Video Battery Time 9 Hour Weight (Approximate) 1.26 kgIntel Atom Z2760 Clover trail

This table depicts some of the key specs of the tablet just shown. Notably, the gadget weighs only less than 1.5 kg and has a maximum video time of 9 hours21Field experiences in using the e-questionnaire with the tablet

Initially, I am a little bit scared that the tablet will not function as expected and that the interview will not be completed as projected Panic about the lost of the data/items already inputted Upset that the datasets are not properly secured/stored regular back up is very essentialWorried on the reaction of the farmer in using the tablet during the interviewIn one instance in Thailand the tablet does not work even with the mouse and I realized that the monitor was not properly docked in the keyboard.Sometimes I also panic about the possible lost of the data that I have already inputted , one example is not following the sequence of the questions which may result to the erasure of the item previously inputted.Sometimes, I am a little bit upset unless I have already back up the completed e-questionnaire. But afterwards it becomes automatic for me to create a back up 22

The farmers were also enthusiastic about the new method., Farmers usually frown when they see a researcher carrying a thick bunch of questionnaires. With a tablet PC, an interview becomes amusing and enjoyable for both farmer and interviewer.

Constraints

Some minor constraints for the use of tablet are:Power consumption (needs regular charging),The visibility of the tablet on brightly lit areas is affected,

Brown out during interview

Unavoidable circumstances, there was brown during the peak of the interview. So therefore, it is very crucial that routine charging of the gadget is a must 25Visibility under bright condition

This photo shows that due to brightness (from the sunlight), the visibility of tablet is affected. Hence, I used umbrella to somehow conceal the intensity of brightness for me to see clearly the tablet.26Concerns and issuesExtra careful ensure habitual back-up of databaseRequires a good database program pilot tested, revised and reviewedInterviewers must be well instructed concepts on the use of tabletTablet should at least be scratch proof

Conclusion

Overall the use of the Information Technology equipment/gadget (tablet) as a tool for data collection especially for farm household survey that involves a lot of quantitative data - is an affirmative step towards improving research procedures and methodology

A Pleasant Good afternoon to all