Surveillance Data Collection in Matlab: Quality assurance by PDA than paper

Background: The personal Digital Assistant (PDA) has proven time-saving ability and quality assurance of data against normal human error in paper-based data collection and compilation.

Objective: Discuss the use of PDA for recording demographic events and quick report generation and explore its potential compared to the paper-based system.

Methodology: The Basic4ppc 6.9 software was used in the data-collection tool loaded onto iPaq Pocket PC hp212 series. Four outreach workers and 4 Field Research Assistants (FRAs) received one-week training on PDA handling. Back-up support at the end of interview to storage cards in PDA and data were downloaded to PCs every 2 weeks.

Results: No major PDA-related problems or loss of data were encountered. A team from the head office observed the time and errors at the time recording events in the PDA and paper. Sixty-five percent less time was required for recording of each event.

Conclusion: Evidence of time-consuming and error-prone process of data-entry and compilation, and of improvement in data quality demonstrates the potential for the use of PDA in a large scale. The supervisors easily monitor the worker's field activities. Quality data available within the shortest period of time and can support other studies providing most recent data.