Citation

Krishnamurthy R, Frolov A, Wolkon A, Vanden Eng J, Hightower A. AMIA Annu. Symp. Proc. 2006; 2006: 991.

Affiliation

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Surveillance, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, American Medical Informatics Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17238610

PMCID

PMC1839572

Abstract

Researchers face substantial challenges when conducting household surveys in technologically less developed regions, such as parts of Africa , or in disaster affected areas. Lack of detailed maps, location of houses, and valid addresses are impediments to conducting surveys in the region. This study presents an alternative through the use of a novel approach that allows a interview teams to overcome the aforementioned problems. An interview team, each equipped with a personal digital assistant (PDA) with global positioning system (GPS) unit, can accomplish all tasks needed to collect statistically valid survey data with high performance metrics. This technology has been used to conduct surveys in regions affected by malaria in Togo, Niger, and Mozambique. This poster demonstrates the use of pre-programmed PDAs with geopositioning capacity using GPS survey selection software, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to conduct a statistically valid assessment and present preliminary analyses within 24 hours of the last completed survey. The software application (GPS Survey, version 2.0) allows rapid mapping of all households in the survey area, as well as landmarks, for spatial analysis. It allows the researcher to choose a statistically valid sample of households and navigate back to them to conduct interviews. During the interview, the program leads the interviewer with preprogrammed skip patterns, checks and safely stores data upon entry, and downloads data to a computer for rapid analysis. Initial analysis of Mozambique household mapping data revealed that using the aforementioned technology, location of 4855 houses dispersed in 32 villages or neighborhoods in 8 districts of Manica and Sofala provinces of Mozambique were mapped in 10 days using 18 field interviewers. Data were aggregated, analyzed, and presented in less than a day. Using GPS 2.0 software application, mapping of individual houses within each enumeration area, spanning several square kilometers, was completed in between 3.5 and 4.5 hours. The application of PDA and GPS based technology to conduct surveys in remote regions of Mozambique was important in assuring data quality, obtaining a statistically accurate random sample with geospatial data, substantially reducing the data entry time, and rapidly making data available for analysis.

Language: en