Remote Surveys

Depending on whether data is collected in-person or remotely, there are two methods of primary data collection - field surveys and remote surveys. Researchers often remote surveys to collect data in areas that are not accessible, or are affected by conflict. In such cases, researchers can still get access to data that can help them solve common development challenges such as lack of access to water, electricity or healthcare.

Read First

• Primary data collection is the process of gathering data through surveys, interviews, or experiments.
• Dime Analytics Guidelines on preparing for data collection
• Remote surveys are also a cost-effective method of performing a follow-up after an initial in-person interview.
• Remote surveys can be of different types, depending on the medium over which they are conducted: phone surveys, web surveys, and recorded surveys.

Phone Surveys

A phone survey or a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) is one where the enumerator calls the respondent and asks them the questions over telephone. The enumerator enters these responses onto a programmed digital survey, which is then shared electronically with the research team. Phone surveys have 2 major advantages. Firstly, they allow data to be collected remotely, thus saving resources since collecting data through face-to-face interviews can often be expensive. Secondly, they are a great option for collecting data in emergencies or in conflict areas while still retaining the personal touch that researchers prefer.

However, when a research team decides to use a phone survey for collecting data, they must keep in mind concerns about:

1. Feasibility. Whether or not a phone survey is feasible.
2. Preparation. Things to keep in mind before starting data collection.
3. Communication and Data Quality. During data collection.

Feasibility

The research team must keep in mind that in a lot of cases, data collection through phone surveys will not be feasible. In that case, they will have to rely on field data collection, or pause data collection in case in-person data collection is not possible. In order to decide whether conducting a phone survey is feasible, ask the following questions:

• Is it practical to ask these questions over a telephone?

This is an important consideration because in some cases asking questions over the phone can drastically alter the nature of data that is collected, or the manner in which respondents interpret questions in the survey.

Examples of questions which cannot be asked over the phone are: questions on sensitive topics (such as gender-based violence), and questions with test components (such as a Math test for a school-based survey).

• How long is the survey?

General guidelines and best practices suggest that phone interviews should be short and longer surveys result in lower response rates. If your original questionnaire (for a field survey) took longer than 20 minutes to answer (on average), you might need to reduce the length of your questionnaire or the number of questions when transitioning to a phone survey.

However sometimes it is not possible to reduce the duration of the survey without affecting the outcomes of interest. In such cases, you might consider the feasibility of conducting the survey over multiple phone calls.

• Does a majority of the target population have access to telephones?

This is important because if the target population does not have access to telephones , the survey will introduce a selection bias into the sample. Further, it will lead to lower response rates and reduce the cost-effectiveness of the survey.

• Are contact details of the target population easily available?

In the case of a follow-up survey (that is, if a prior round of surveys has already been conducted), it is likely that the research team has already collected contact information about the respondents. But in the case of a baseline survey (that is, when it is the first round of survey), if the research team does not have access to the contact numbers, they can consider random digit sampling (RDS). This is a method for selecting people for involvement in telephone statistical surveys by generating or selecting telephone numbers at random. However it is only possible when the research team has access to a long list of phone numbers from the population.

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then the research team can move to the next step, that of preparing for remote data collection. In the next section, we discuss the logistics of data collection for a phone survey.

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Additional Resources

• Andrew et. al. (World Bank Group), General guide on conducting phone surveys
• Özler and Cuevas (World Bank), Blog post on reducing attrition in phone surveys
• Goldstein and Kondylis on IEs in the time of Covid-19
• Markus Goldstein (World Bank), Blog post on using phones for repeat surveys
• Herath et al. (J-PAL Africa), Article on increasing response rates
• J-PAL, Best practices for conducting phone surveys
• J-PAL, Protocols for phone surveys
• J-PAL South Asia, Checklists and resources for transitioning to CATI
• IPA, Guide on conducting phone surveys during a pandemic
• Tavneet Suri, Webinar on adaptations for phone surveys