Sample management: tracking the status of respondents

This article is accompanied by sample forms, dataset definitions and sample data saved in this folder. For help on deploying the workflow, skip to 2. Deploy the workflow now!.

1. Overview

In data collection projects, enumerators often need to transport themselves to the location of the respondents, assess their availability, and conduct the interviews. A common example of this process is household surveys. Enumerators need to locate the households, assess whether the eligible household member(s) are available and whether they consent to the interview. In these workflows, it can be helpful to gather metadata about the visits, such as the number of visits to that household, the number of visits done by each enumerator, the outcome of the last visit, respondent disposition, and more. This information is useful for the enumerators to track their progress, and for field managers to track the progress of their sample.

Sample management is particularly challenging when working offline, but with SurveyCTO advanced offline features your enumerators will be able to track the status of respondents without any internet connection.

This use case covers the following sections:

2. Deploy the workflow now!
3. Understanding the workflow
4. Workflow Components
5. Customization and improvements

In this workflow, you will be able to

	Track the number of visits to each household.
	Track the number of visits by each enumerator.
	Track the number of households completed by each enumerator.
	Track the number of interviews completed by each enumerator.
	Reschedule visits.
	Display and use previously collected data related to households and visits.
	Close cases as they are completed, so households no longer appear in the list of cases that need to be completed.

2. Deploy the workflow now!

Click below to view this workflow in the Hub and install it on your server.

Install Workflow

 

3. Understanding the workflow

For an overview of the workflow, take a look at this flowchart:

Click image to enlarge

To be able to effectively test this workflow you can follow these outlined tasks:

Prepare SurveyCTO Collect to work on this workflow: Enable Manage Cases. To learn how, see Guide to case management part 3: Collecting data using case management, section On a mobile device. From the main menu of SurveyCTO Collect, open Get Blank Form, and download the form "Sample management: Household tracking" (ID: sample_management_household_tracking) In SurveyCTO, click on Manage Cases and select a case to work on. Open and fill out the "Sample management: Household tracking" form. Depending on whether the household member is available or not, the form will display different features. Below, you can find a few examples. If the household member is not available, you can reschedule the visit for a better time. If the household member is available, ask for consent before proceeding the interview. Next time you open the form, your survey summary will show you the latest numbers updated (Note: This will only work fully offline with SurveyCTO Advanced offline features. Otherwise, to get the latest summary, you must submit the form to the server and install the latest form version on the device). Once the form has been submitted to the server, take a look at the updated server dataset in the Design tab of your server console.

4. Workflow components

This workflow has one form and one cases dataset. Below, you can find a non-comprehensive list of all components, the corresponding files, and their main purposes. If you would like to learn more about how each component works, its structure, and its technical characteristics, take a look here.

Workflow Component Files Click on the section to access the files.

Forms Name Sample management: Household tracking File(s) Definition: Sample management: Household tracking Description Gathers information about each household and the household members. Enumerator Datasets Name Sample enumerators File(s) Definition: Enumerator dataset definition- Sample management Data: Dataset data - Sample enumerators Description Stores information about each enumerator, including how many visits they have made, how many cases they have completed, and how many households they have interviewed. Cases Datasets Name Sample cases File(s) Definition: Cases dataset definition- Sample management Data: Cases data - Sample cases Description Stores information about each household (case). When a case is closed, it will no longer appear in the Manage Cases menu.

5. Customization and improvements

SurveyCTO has endless possibilities, so this workflow is only the beginning. Feel free to modify and expand this workflow to fit your own needs. Here are some tips on what you could add:

• Publish your cases dataset to Google Sheets so that you can aggregate collected data and monitor your project using a spreadsheet dashboard. Google Sheets can also be used to integrate with Power BI. 
• Update the form and cases dataset publishing so an enumerator can assign a case to a different enumerator.
• Add a column to the cases dataset that says if the household was interviewed or not (and the case was not just closed without an interview).
• Use the create-google-event field plug-in to reschedule household visits, so they are not only published to the 'reschedule' column of the cases dataset, but they are also in a Google Calendar. You can learn more about field plug-ins in our Guide to field plug-ins.

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