Training Course in Mobile Data Collection Using ODK

Course Level: Advanced

Introduction

This course in Mobile Data Collection Using Open Data Kit (ODK) will equip you with the skills and knowledge to collect, manage, and analyze data efficiently using ODK.

Whether you’re a researcher, an M&E specialist, a field team member, or a professional looking to streamline your data collection process, this course is for you.

Duration

5 Days

What you will learn

• Form Building: Create powerful forms that include ODK Entities, photos, GPS locations, skip logic, calculations, external datasets, multiple languages, and more.
• Offline & Online Data Collection: Collect data anywhere using ODK Collect on mobile phones and the web using Enketo, even without an Internet connection. Sync your forms and submissions seamlessly when you’re back online.
• Data Hosting: Host ODK Central server and data in the ODK Cloud and on a Digital Ocean cloud server
• Data Analysis: Learn to download your data as a CSV or link ODK to tools like Excel, Power BI, Tableau Python, or R to create live-updating dashboards for real-time insights.

What can you do with ODK?

• Build/digitize a data collection form/questionnaire/survey using Excel or Google Sheets using the XLSForm syntax
• Collect data offline on a mobile device and send it to a cloud server.
• Collect longitudinal data
• Collect case management data
• Collect data online using web forms
• Stream data to analysis and dashboard applications like Excel, Power BI, Tableau, R or Python
• Manage users, including data collectors and managers

How has ODK been used in the past?

• Open Data Kit (ODK) has been used to:
• Observe elections
• Monitor rainforests
• Track outbreaks,
• Conduct one-off surveys
• Rapid assessments
• Baseline studies
• Project mid-term evaluations
• Project end-term evaluations
• Market research
• During and directly following disasters, and in many other cases.

Course Details

• ODK or Open Data Kit is a set of free and open-source tools that are used for field data collection on Android mobile phones, tablets, and on the web.
• Using ODK, you can collect data on mobile devices without an internet connection and sync data to your server later.
• ODK allows data submission to a self-hosted server or an online cloud-based server.
• Data on the server can then be downloaded or linked to tools like Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Python, or R to create live-updating dashboards for real-time insights.

The ODK – Open Data Kit ecosystem comprises the following components:

• ODK Collect: An open-source Android app that is used to collect data on Android mobile phones and tablets.
• ODK Build: A form designer with a drag-and-drop user interface.
• XLSForm: A standard for building forms in Excel.
• ODK Aggregate: An open-source application that stores, analyzes, and presents survey data collected using ODK Collect. (ODK Aggregate is no longer being updated and was replaced by ODK Central)
• ODK Central: The ODK server. Manages user accounts and permissions, forms and submissions, and longitudinal data records, and allows data collection clients like ODK Collect to connect to it for form download and submission upload.
• ODK Cloud: A fully managed and fully supported cloud infrastructure for hosting the ODK Central server.
• Enketo Forms: Enables preview and submission of forms directly from a web browser.

Who should take this course?

Researchers, project officers, M&E specialists, field team members, or professionals looking to streamline their data collection process.

Course Requirements

• A laptop
• Intermediate computing skills
• A mobile device running the Android OS
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• Access to the internet
• Proficiency in English

Topics to be covered

• ODK Collect
• Enketo
• XLSForm Syntax
• ODK Central
• Hosting ODK Central on the ODK Cloud
• Hosting ODK Central on Digital Ocean
• ODK Central with Power BI
• ODK Central with Tableau
• ODK Central with Excel
• ODK Central with Python
•  ODK Central with R
• ODK Validate
• ODK Briefcase

Course Objectives 

This training course in Mobile Data Collection using Open Data Kit (ODK) will teach learners how to:

• Build/design forms (Digitize questionnaires) in ODK Build, Excel, or Google Sheets (XLSForm syntax)
• Check for XLSForm syntax errors and validate forms
• Set up a free subdomain on Free DNS
• Set up an account on Digital Ocean
• Set up the ODK Central server on Digital Ocean
• Collect data offline on mobile devices using ODK Collect
• Collect data online using web forms
• Upload and aggregate collected data in a cloud server
• Visualize, manage, analyze, and map data online
• Download data from the cloud server for further analysis
• Stream data to analysis and dashboard applications like Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or R

Learning Outcomes

 At the end of the course, learners will be able to:

• Digitize any paper-based questionnaire to an ODK-compatible format using MS Excel and ODK Build
• Set up a free subdomain on Free DNS
• Set up and operate an account in Digital Ocean VPS
• Set up and administer an ODK Central server on Digital Ocean
• Set up ODK Collect and collect data offline on mobile devices
• Collect data online using Enketo webforms
• Upload data to a cloud-based ODK Central server
• Manage data collectors and managers online
• Stream data from ODK Central to analysis and dashboard applications like Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Python, and R

Course Outline

• Introduction to mobile data collection
• Advanced survey digitization in Excel using the XLSForms syntax
• Free DNS subdomain setup
• Digital Ocean setup
• ODK Collect setup on a mobile device
• Offline mobile data collection
• ODK Central installation on Digital Ocean
•  ODK Central administration
•  ODK Collect and ODK Central integration
•  Data streaming from ODK Central

Course Contents

Module I

Introduction

• ICT Refresher
• Introduction to Mobile Data Collection
• Benefits of Mobile Data Collection
• Challenges facing Mobile Data Collection and their work around
• Introduction to the ODK ecosystem
• Introduction to basic XLSForm syntax for survey authoring

Module II

Getting started – Survey authoring using ODK XLSForm

• Types of questions
• Data types for each question
• Types of questionnaires and Form logic
• Extended data types geoid, image,e and multimedia

Form Validation

• ODK Validate for validating XML forms
• Troubleshooting common syntax errors

Device calibration (Mobile Phones/Tablets) – ODK Collect

• Introduction to ODK Collect
• ODK Collect installation and configuration
• Uploading forms into ODK Collect manually
• Downloading form into ODK Collect from ODK Central server
• Hands-on Exercise

Hosting survey data – ODK Central

• Introduction to ODK Central
• ODK Central installation on ODK Cloud
• ODK Central Installation on Digital Ocean
• Connecting ODK Collect and ODK Central
• Downloading survey forms from ODK Central
• Uploading data into ODK Central
• ODK Central administration

Module III

Intermediate Survey Authoring for ODK

• New data types
• Notes and dates
• Multiple choice Questions
• Multiple Language Support
• Hints, metadata, and more
• Conditional Survey Branching
• Required questions
• Constraining responses
• Skip: Asking Relevant Questions
• The specify (other)
• Grouping questions.
• Skipping many questions at once (Skipping a section)

Hands-on Exercises

Module IV

Advanced Survey Authoring for ODK

• Repeating a set of questions
• Special formatting
• Making dynamic calculations
• Survey Styling and formatting – Working with the appearance column
• Working with media files
• Cascading select
• External selects
• Conducting Longitudinal surveys

Hands-on Exercises

Module V

Downloading data

• Downloading data from ODK Central using Excel
• Downloading data from ODK Central using Tableau
• Downloading data from ODK Central using Power BI
• Downloading data from ODK Central using Python
• Downloading data from ODK Central using R

Hands-on Exercise

• Presentation of course project by participants
• Action plan
• Closure