Electronic data capture in a rural African setting: evaluating experiences with different systems in Malawi

摘要

BackgroundAs 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.ObjectiveWe 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).DesignWe report on the personal field and development experience of fieldworkers, project managers, and EDC system developers.ResultsFieldworkers 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 c...