http://opendatakit.org/help/training-guides/ has a ton of information
about how to deploy ODK, and it'll give you some insight into what you
may need to implement your survey. The short answer is that whether or
not you need technical support depends on the capabilities of your
team in the field. Designing a basic form, setting up a server and
putting the forms on the phones don't require a lot of technical
experience. If you find that you need help beyond what the website and
mailing list provide, then consider hiring help at
http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire/.
As far as alternatives, there are lots of other data collection
systems you might want to consider. What you pick depends on what you
need. We keep a list of the ones we know about at
http://opendatakit.org/help/faq/. See the "Are there other data
collection systems I should consider?" question. Hope that helps!
···
> I’m a research coordinator from X University, and we’re looking to
> launch a survey in India with a team of 30 surveyors and tablets. We’ll have
> 4 different surveys, and we anticipate collecting around 4000 responses. It
> seems as if this platform would be great for us, but I’m unsure if we need a
> tech support team there or if I can handle managing the data from here in
> NYC and what qualifications I would need to do so. Do you think ODK is
> something that would work for us? I’m also looking into using epicollect,
> which seems less well developed than ODK, and rollapoll, which charges for
> their services. Do you have any other suggestions for platforms that would
> work for us?
I think Yaw is being unnecessarily modest in this response. I would
suggest that ODK is by far the best tool you could use for a survey using
Android devices. Nothing else comes close. Its probably the best tool for
this space period and I've evaluated a lot of them over the past 10 years.
There's just no need to re-invent the wheel. They've done it.
As to your specifics: 30 devices and 4000 surveys is not a big deal. My
current use of ODK involves more devices than that and 300 data forms per
day (at least) continuously for many months in a remote part of the globe.
Other projects that have been on the ODK platform have had larger surveys
as well.
So, get started is my advice. You can probably do a proof of concept
using ODK: Build, then Aggregate, and Collect in a couple of hours. The
setup skill is mostly in following the slightly technical instructions. In
terms of managing things, I don't have a technical team on site and I don't
think you need one; if just one person on your team in India is savvy
about smart phones (like how to download apps and manage wifi settings),
you probably have enough tech support there. Further, once you have a
proof of concept you may want to retain one of the consultants Yaw
references - and you'll be better informed about what you want. As a final
thing the survey structure ("branching" logic in the questions, multiple
choice, etc) is important to mesh with the survey methodology and that's
where most projects seem to spend their time iterating - getting the exact
right set of questions and choices.
If you have an Android phone now you should download ODK Collect from the
Market (aka google Play), and look at some sample forms.
If after you go through the instructions you have a specific question -
I'll try to answer it on this thread, or someone else will....its a pretty
good place to get help until you get to the specific questions about your
own survey design - at which point its DIY or hire a consultant. I'm
trying to help, hope that is clear.
James (not associated with the UW or ODK project except as a supporter)
···
On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 5:12 PM, Yaw Anokwa wrote:
http://opendatakit.org/help/training-guides/ has a ton of information
about how to deploy ODK, and it'll give you some insight into what you
may need to implement your survey. The short answer is that whether or
not you need technical support depends on the capabilities of your
team in the field. Designing a basic form, setting up a server and
putting the forms on the phones don't require a lot of technical
experience. If you find that you need help beyond what the website and
mailing list provide, then consider hiring help at
http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire/.
As far as alternatives, there are lots of other data collection
systems you might want to consider. What you pick depends on what you
need. We keep a list of the ones we know about at
http://opendatakit.org/help/faq/. See the "Are there other data
collection systems I should consider?" question. Hope that helps!
I’m a research coordinator from X University, and we’re looking to
launch a survey in India with a team of 30 surveyors and tablets. We’ll
have
4 different surveys, and we anticipate collecting around 4000 responses.
It
seems as if this platform would be great for us, but I’m unsure if we
need a
tech support team there or if I can handle managing the data from here in
NYC and what qualifications I would need to do so. Do you think ODK is
something that would work for us? I’m also looking into using epicollect,
which seems less well developed than ODK, and rollapoll, which charges
for
their services. Do you have any other suggestions for platforms that
would
work for us?
--
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Unsubscribe: opendatakit+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
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--
James Dailey
skype: jdailey
James,
Thanks so much for the strong endorsement! I still think we have much
more to do to make the process of data collection even better, but
emails like this make the work a little easier.
Thanks again,
Yaw
···
On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 17:47, James Dailey wrote:
> I think Yaw is being unnecessarily modest in this response. I would
> suggest that ODK is by far the best tool you could use for a survey using
> Android devices. Nothing else comes close. Its probably the best tool for
> this space period and I've evaluated a lot of them over the past 10 years.
> There's just no need to re-invent the wheel. They've done it.
>
> As to your specifics: 30 devices and 4000 surveys is not a big deal. My
> current use of ODK involves more devices than that and 300 data forms per
> day (at least) continuously for many months in a remote part of the globe.
> Other projects that have been on the ODK platform have had larger surveys as
> well.
>
> So, get started is my advice. You can probably do a proof of concept using
> ODK: Build, then Aggregate, and Collect in a couple of hours. The setup
> skill is mostly in following the slightly technical instructions. In terms
> of managing things, I don't have a technical team on site and I don't think
> you need one; if just one person on your team in India is savvy about smart
> phones (like how to download apps and manage wifi settings), you probably
> have enough tech support there. Further, once you have a proof of concept
> you may want to retain one of the consultants Yaw references - and you'll be
> better informed about what you want. As a final thing the survey structure
> ("branching" logic in the questions, multiple choice, etc) is important to
> mesh with the survey methodology and that's where most projects seem to
> spend their time iterating - getting the exact right set of questions and
> choices.
>
> If you have an Android phone now you should download ODK Collect from the
> Market (aka google Play), and look at some sample forms.
>
> If after you go through the instructions you have a specific question - I'll
> try to answer it on this thread, or someone else will....its a pretty good
> place to get help until you get to the specific questions about your own
> survey design - at which point its DIY or hire a consultant. I'm trying to
> help, hope that is clear.
>
> James (not associated with the UW or ODK project except as a supporter)
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 5:12 PM, Yaw Anokwa wrote:
>>
>> http://opendatakit.org/help/training-guides/ has a ton of information
>> about how to deploy ODK, and it'll give you some insight into what you
>> may need to implement your survey. The short answer is that whether or
>> not you need technical support depends on the capabilities of your
>> team in the field. Designing a basic form, setting up a server and
>> putting the forms on the phones don't require a lot of technical
>> experience. If you find that you need help beyond what the website and
>> mailing list provide, then consider hiring help at
>> http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire/.
>>
>> As far as alternatives, there are lots of other data collection
>> systems you might want to consider. What you pick depends on what you
>> need. We keep a list of the ones we know about at
>> http://opendatakit.org/help/faq/. See the "Are there other data
>> collection systems I should consider?" question. Hope that helps!
>>
>> > I’m a research coordinator from X University, and we’re looking to
>> > launch a survey in India with a team of 30 surveyors and tablets. We’ll
>> > have
>> > 4 different surveys, and we anticipate collecting around 4000 responses.
>> > It
>> > seems as if this platform would be great for us, but I’m unsure if we
>> > need a
>> > tech support team there or if I can handle managing the data from here
>> > in
>> > NYC and what qualifications I would need to do so. Do you think ODK is
>> > something that would work for us? I’m also looking into using
>> > epicollect,
>> > which seems less well developed than ODK, and rollapoll, which charges
>> > for
>> > their services. Do you have any other suggestions for platforms that
>> > would
>> > work for us?
>>
>> --
>> Post: opendatakit@googlegroups.com
>> Unsubscribe: opendatakit+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
>> Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en
>
>
>
>
> --
> James Dailey
> skype: jdailey
>
> --
> Post: opendatakit@googlegroups.com
> Unsubscribe: opendatakit+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
> Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en
Try out this mobile data collection decision tool. It will help you figure
out what software will work for you. humanitarian-nomad.org/?page_id=533
Curtis
···
On 29 Mar 2012 03:10, "Yaw Anokwa" wrote:
James,
Thanks so much for the strong endorsement! I still think we have much
more to do to make the process of data collection even better, but
emails like this make the work a little easier.
Thanks again,
Yaw
On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 17:47, James Dailey jamespdailey@gmail.com wrote:
I think Yaw is being unnecessarily modest in this response. I would
suggest that ODK is by far the best tool you could use for a survey using
Android devices. Nothing else comes close. Its probably the best tool
for
this space period and I've evaluated a lot of them over the past 10
years.
There's just no need to re-invent the wheel. They've done it.
As to your specifics: 30 devices and 4000 surveys is not a big deal.
My
current use of ODK involves more devices than that and 300 data forms per
day (at least) continuously for many months in a remote part of the
globe.
Other projects that have been on the ODK platform have had larger
surveys as
well.
So, get started is my advice. You can probably do a proof of concept
using
ODK: Build, then Aggregate, and Collect in a couple of hours. The setup
skill is mostly in following the slightly technical instructions. In
terms
of managing things, I don't have a technical team on site and I don't
think
you need one; if just one person on your team in India is savvy about
smart
phones (like how to download apps and manage wifi settings), you probably
have enough tech support there. Further, once you have a proof of
concept
you may want to retain one of the consultants Yaw references - and
you'll be
better informed about what you want. As a final thing the survey
structure
("branching" logic in the questions, multiple choice, etc) is important
to
mesh with the survey methodology and that's where most projects seem to
spend their time iterating - getting the exact right set of questions and
choices.
If you have an Android phone now you should download ODK Collect from the
Market (aka google Play), and look at some sample forms.
If after you go through the instructions you have a specific question -
I'll
try to answer it on this thread, or someone else will....its a pretty
good
place to get help until you get to the specific questions about your own
survey design - at which point its DIY or hire a consultant. I'm trying
to
help, hope that is clear.
James (not associated with the UW or ODK project except as a supporter)
On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 5:12 PM, Yaw Anokwa yanokwa@gmail.com wrote:
http://opendatakit.org/help/training-guides/ has a ton of information
about how to deploy ODK, and it'll give you some insight into what you
may need to implement your survey. The short answer is that whether or
not you need technical support depends on the capabilities of your
team in the field. Designing a basic form, setting up a server and
putting the forms on the phones don't require a lot of technical
experience. If you find that you need help beyond what the website and
mailing list provide, then consider hiring help at
http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire/.
As far as alternatives, there are lots of other data collection
systems you might want to consider. What you pick depends on what you
need. We keep a list of the ones we know about at
http://opendatakit.org/help/faq/. See the "Are there other data
collection systems I should consider?" question. Hope that helps!
I’m a research coordinator from X University, and we’re looking to
launch a survey in India with a team of 30 surveyors and tablets.
We’ll
have
4 different surveys, and we anticipate collecting around 4000
responses.
It
seems as if this platform would be great for us, but I’m unsure if we
need a
tech support team there or if I can handle managing the data from here
in
NYC and what qualifications I would need to do so. Do you think ODK
is
something that would work for us? I’m also looking into using
epicollect,
which seems less well developed than ODK, and rollapoll, which charges
for
their services. Do you have any other suggestions for platforms that
would
work for us?
--
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Unsubscribe: opendatakit+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
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James Dailey
skype: jdailey
--
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