Viability of Mobile Forms for Population Health Surveys in Low Resource Areas

Population health surveys are an important tool to effectively allocate limited resources in low resource communities. In such an environment, surveys are often done by local population with pen and paper. Data thus collected is difficult to tabulate and analyze. We conducted a series of interviews and experiments in the Philippines to assess if mobile forms can be a viable and more efficient survey method. We first conducted pilot interviews and found 60% of the local surveyors actually preferred mobile forms over paper. We then built a software that can generate mobile forms that are easy to use, capable of working offline, and able to track key metrics such as time to complete questions. Our mobile form was field tested in three locations in the Philippines with 33 surveyors collecting health survey responses from 266 subjects. The percentage of surveyors preferring mobile forms increased to 76% after just using the form a few times. The results demonstrate our mobile form is a viable method to conduct large scale population health surveys in a low resource environment.