Using screen tablet computers to monitor, correct, and modify surveys during fieldwork : a nutritional ecology case study of a Maya population in Yucatan, Mexico / Fransisco Gurri, Wilma Ruiz-Garcia, Dolores Ofelia Molina-Rosales.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gurri, Francisco, author.

Ruiz-García, Wilma, author.

Molina-Rosales, Dolores, Ofelia, author.

Series:

SAGE research methods: doing research online.

SAGE research methods: doing research online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nutrition--Mexico--Research--Case studies.

Nutrition.

Tablet computers--Mexico--Case studies.

Tablet computers.

Social sciences-fieldwork--Case studies.

Social sciences-fieldwork.

Yucatán (Mexico : State)--Case studies.

Yucatán (Mexico : State).

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications, Ltd., 2022.

Summary:

There are many published strategies on how to reduce random and consistent observer errors during the application of field survey questionnaires. Nevertheless, with traditional paper platforms it is practically impossible to fix most errors once the team is in the field. We present this case study of the nutritional ecology of rural Maya agriculturalists in Yucatan, Mexico, where we used touch screen tablet computers to digitize the answers to questionnaire surveys in real time and uploaded the data into a cloud-based database so that an offsite reviewer could correct random and consistent errors to improve the survey strategy as it developed. Our unit of analysis was the household whose ID is linked to nine Microsoft Access datasets with different aggregation levels. Each tablet has a screen form interface that guides each interviewer and reduces the possibility of mistakes. Every night the data are reviewed and uploaded to an institutional Microsoft OneDrive account. Before going into the field, a set of SPSSpc routines was prepared to export the datasets into SPSSpc files, which generated standardized output that were used to review the field data. We designed the first routines to search for missing cases. Once detected we looked for outliers, possible idiosyncratic differences between interviewers, and badly worded or designed fields that needed modification. In the end, the use of tablets by a field team, supported by a home office using cloud-based services, produced more reliable datasets that were ready to use almost immediately after returning from the field.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

9781529603972 :

OCLC:

1301365299