Electronic data capture in a rural African setting: evaluating experiences with different systems in Malawi.
Electronic data capture in a rural African setting: evaluating experiences with different systems in Malawi.
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DOI：
10.3402/gha.v7.25878
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发表时间：
2014
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Fottrell E
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
King C;Hall J;Banda M;Beard J;Bird J;Kazembe P;Fottrell E
随着智能手机或平板电脑等用于电子数据捕获(EDC)的硬件变得更便宜和更广泛地获得，在常规医疗保健和研究中使用此类硬件作为数据捕获工具的潜力正在增加。我们旨在强调马拉维农村地区同时使用的四个EDC系统的优缺点：两个用于Android设备(CommCare和ODK Collect)，一个用于Palm和Windows OS(Pendragon)，以及一个用于Android的定制应用程序(Mobile InterVA-MIVA)。我们报告了现场工作人员、项目经理和EDC系统开发人员的个人领域和开发经验。现场工作人员更喜欢使用EDC而不是纸质系统，尽管一些人一开始对这项技术感到困惑。突出的功能包括所有系统的内置跳过模式，特别是CommCare提供的‘Case’功能。与其他系统相比，MIVA作为一个独立的应用程序需要相当多的时间和专业知识来创建，并且不能针对我们的特定研究需求进行定制；然而，它促进了标准化的常规数据收集。CommCare和ODK Collect都有用户友好的Web界面，用于表单开发和良好的技术支持。CommCare需要Internet来构建应用程序并将其下载到设备上，而所有步骤都可以使用ODK Collect离线完成，这在低连接设置中是一个理想的功能。Pendragon需要使用Microsoft Access应用程序进行更复杂的逻辑编程，而且通常技术支持较少。不同系统的启动成本不同，所有系统都被认为比建立纸质系统更昂贵；然而，运行成本通常较低，因此在我们的项目过程中被认为是具有成本效益的。EDC为有效收集数据提供了许多机会，但也带来了一些在设计研究时需要考虑的问题；应根据数据收集的目的、预算和当地情况来决定使用哪些硬件和软件。
As hardware for electronic data capture (EDC), such as smartphones or tablets, becomes cheaper and more widely available, the potential for using such hardware as data capture tools in routine healthcare and research is increasing. We aim to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of four EDC systems being used simultaneously in rural Malawi: two for Android devices (CommCare and ODK Collect), one for PALM and Windows OS (Pendragon), and a custom-built application for Android (Mobile InterVA – MIVA). We report on the personal field and development experience of fieldworkers, project managers, and EDC system developers. Fieldworkers preferred using EDC to paper-based systems, although some struggled with the technology at first. Highlighted features include in-built skip patterns for all systems, and specifically the ‘case’ function that CommCare offers. MIVA as a standalone app required considerably more time and expertise than the other systems to create and could not be customised for our specific research needs; however, it facilitates standardised routine data collection. CommCare and ODK Collect both have user-friendly web-interfaces for form development and good technical support. CommCare requires Internet to build an application and download it to a device, whereas all steps can be done offline with ODK Collect, a desirable feature in low connectivity settings. Pendragon required more complex programming of logic, using a Microsoft Access application, and generally had less technical support. Start-up costs varied between systems, and all were considered more expensive than setting up a paper-based system; however running costs were generally low and therefore thought to be cost-effective over the course of our projects. EDC offers many opportunities for efficient data collection, but brings some issues requiring consideration when designing a study; the decision of which hardware and software to use should be informed by the aim of data collection, budget, and local circumstances.