The value of a PDA survey emulator in mobile survey software

While PDA surveys run on handheld PDA devices, the actual survey design is done on the desktop computer which introduces an inherent problem as to how the survey will look like on the actual pda device.

This problem is common one and usually most survey software packages include some sort of a preview of the PDA device. Here is a preview example take from SurveyToGo (www.dooblo.net/stgi):

 

While preview is a good way of getting a sense of how the question will look like on the PDA, when you design a mobile survey you would like a way to see how the entire survey will behave, which includes all the answers, the skip rules, branch rules, validation rules, piping options etc.. to put it in less words: I want to see the entire survey right on my desktop!

One option of course is to deploy the survey to the PDA and see it on the PDA itself. While being the only way that truly shows you a 100% view of the survey, this is usually a very time consuming process requiring you to switch back and forth from the desktop to the PDA, identify problems, correct them on the desktop and then deploy the survey again to the PDA. Try it once on a big complicated survey and you will get tired of it real quick

Another big concern is device orientation. Are you running the survey on a landscape device? Or maybe a square screen device? Good luck getting preview of these..

 

So, do we have any other option?

 

Luckily we do. SurveyToGo (www.dooblo.net/stgi), a PDA survey software solution allows you to run your PDA survey on a desktop PDA emulator which gives you a sense of how the survey will behave on a PDA right from the comfort of your desktop. Moreover, when you change your survey, you won’t even have to save the survey to see the changes in the emulator. The emulator will automatically pickup the change and will reload the survey for you, making on-the-fly changes a no-brainer and making survey design finally an easier task!

 

Here’s a sample of the Survey Emulator that runs from your desktop:

And here is a sample of the emulator that runs in Landscape mode:

Square screen support as well! Cool!

Designing mobile surveys using the emulator as a checking tool makes survey design a much easier and bearable task for everyone, especially for those who don’t have a PDA handy at all times

Showing Rich Text in Mobile Surveys on the PDA

 

Let’s start by understanding what rich text is J. Rich text is the ability to add formatting to text. Things like bold, colors, underline, different fonts and sizes of texts. Rich text is all around us in the internet and on MS Word documents, PDF files etc.. However, Windows Mobile PDA applications (other than Pocket Word) usually don’t have this support.

So, is showing Rich text on the PDA important when conducting mobile surveys? I think the answer is a definite “Yes”. It can be very useful when you have a field surveyor using a PDA to conduct a survey and in the question text it says: “would you recommend product A to your close friends?”

This is also useful when you are requesting that the surveyed person will fill out a question by him/her self instead of having the surveyor read the question out loud. You can then highlight certain words, use different colors or different font sizes to make the necessary modifications that are needed in the research. This of course is also important for the answer text as well.

Here is a screenshot of how Rich text can look on the PDA:

 

 

Rich text in mobile surveys

Would you agree that this is an important capability to have in a mobile surveys software? I think it is. Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.

The next version of SurveyToGo – a Mobile Surveys Software, will support RTF (Rich Text) questions and answer colors and formatting. Be sure to check it out when it is released!

How to design questionnaires for mobile PDA handheld devices?

Many market research companies whish to go ahead and take their paper based field surveys (traditionally named CAPI – Computer aided personal interview) and move them into more modern PDA mobile device surveys.

 

This is of course a great way to utilize the PDA mobile technology to achieve fast ROI and lots of advantages including:

 

·         More accurate data as data entry rules are enforced by the handheld device

·         Ability to attach pictures to the survey

·         Ability to read GPS position and attach it to the survey

·         Reduced costs of printing paper

·         Reduced costs of survey distribution to the field surveyors

·         Reduced management costs as the handheld device and the central office communicate thus allowing easier management

 

The simplest way to take your surveys mobile is to get yourself a PDA handheld mobile device – like a Windows Mobile Pocket PC device – and grab Dooblo SurveyToGo (www.dooblo.net/stgi), a pay-as-you-go solution specifically designed for creating PDA mobile surveys.

 

Once you install this easy to use mobile surveys software you will be able to start designing your mobile questionnaire.

 

And now, after the long intro, let’s get into the interesting question: How to design a questionnaire for a PDA device?

 

Well, it’s not too hard but you will have to follow some certain guidelines since designing a mobile PDA survey is not the same as a paper based survey form. Initially it might seem like the platform is inferior to paper, but as you get used to it (and your field surveyors too) you will quickly see that it’s superior to paper in many aspects. Lets start off by setting some basic “rules of thumb”:

1. Do not put more then one question in a page. Why? Simply because it will make auto-advance feature not work J and also of course because it’s easier on the eyes.
2. Do not put the data entry logic instructions in the questions text – since you will program the survey logic, you shouldn’t waste valuable screen real estate on instructions that will be enforced automatically.
3. Keep answers and question texts short and to the point – again, don’t forget screen real-estate is important and you don’t want to end up with a surveyor having to scroll through the screen as it will make data entry slower and clumsier.
4. Don’t ask whatever you already know – Don’t ask the surveyor for the time or date of the survey or for the name of the surveyor or any other question you can know the answer by using built in variables or expressions. This can only confuse the surveyor and will cost you more time in the field. Also, if you just asked whether this is a male or a female and have a later question that needs this data, don’t ask it again…

 

After these rules of thumb, you are basically good-to-go on starting to design your surveys. Don’t forget to first create a test-surveyors group, and test your survey BEFORE you distribute it to the field, but more on that in a future post I am planning about the whole process of “rolling out” a PDA based survey…

 

Don’t forget you can always reach me with questions at ofer@dooblo.net or just comment to this post. And as always, my recommended tool for doing field data collection and mobile surveys is SurveyToGo J

 

Happy “survey designing”!

Is GPS position in mobile field surveys important?

This is question that initially the answer sounds like it should be a big fat YES, right?

For this reason we are now working on adding this functionality as an integral part of SurveyToGo  so that if you will be using a GPS enabled device SurveyToGo will automatically attach the GPS location to each survey that you conduct.

We are also adding the ability in the operation console to show you on the actual location on the map so that you will be able to track exactly who did what WHERE

GPS Map of Mobile Survey

 

However, the question that bothers me is, given the fact that field surveys are also conducted inside a building, and since GPS devices do not get a signal when inside buildings the location you will be getting isn’t that accurate after all… in SurveyToGo we are preparing a smart mechanism to get the most accurate place even if you are inside a building – but this is still a valid question…

I am still wondering what the answer is….

Let me know what you think!

create mobile PDA surveys and forms!

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post about mobile surveys and forms. My name is Ofer Heijmans and I am a long time enthusiast of PDA mobile field data collection solutions. After seeing the first commercial PDAs hit the market, and understanding their potential, I immediately decided my future will be in easy to use PDA mobile surveys and forms.

I teamed up with a good friend from the army, Assaf Kezurer – a Microsoft MVP in .NET Compact Framework – and we started Dooblo (www.dooblo.net) that specializes in PDA mobile surveys and forms. After a couple of years of development we released SurveyToGo (www.dooblo.net/stgi) which is the most flexible and easy to use solution out there for mobile surveys and forms – although i am a bit biased

Anyway – I will keep posting about mobile PDA surveys and forms as this is my passion and what I love doing!

Enjoy my blog!