A Complete Guide To Data Collection App:

By Author: Emma Anderson
Total Articles: 10
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Many people are unaware of the importance of data collection when it comes to the field. The right data can help you form successful decisions when it comes to your business.
In this article, we will discuss the important aspects of data collection and how to create a comprehensive system for collecting it.

What is Data Collection?
The systematic process of gathering information is known as data collection. The collected data is analyzed to draw one or more conclusions. The purpose of data collection is to test a certain hypothesis and evaluate a number of outcomes.

For instance, calculating the risks and benefits of certain decisions can sometimes be difficult, so it is helpful to modify formulas and use data in order to calculate these.

It is also used to track certain processes, quantify specific parameters, or even measure performance.

Businesses need the data collection phase for many purposes, including mass audits, field services, inspections, investigations, and incident reporting.
A company might run a survey to see how well a beverage is selling, and then repeat the ...
... process each month from person to person.

The data gets analyzed later to find out if the customers like the beverage or not.
Whereas, a facility management company might collect data using facility management software while conducting a routine inspection at one of their client premises.

Here, the data is analyzed for information like how long it takes to conduct an inspection, how many inspections are done a day, what types of tickets people tend to raise, and more.

Not all companies analyze the data for actionable insights, some merely collect it and store the forms for the sake of records.
Data Collection Techniques
Here are some data collection techniques available:
In-person, telephonic or email interviews
Surveys & questionnaires
Observation study
Focus Groups
Documents & Records
Data collection process can be either qualitative or quantitative, depending.
Tools of Data Collection:
It is most common to collect data by hand. Even if a client or respondent doesn't provide written feedback during a face-to-face interview or survey, it can be recorded on paper.
Let’s say you are supposed to identify people using Ford cars in Tampa. Once identified, you are required to collect other details from the car owners like:
since how many years have they been using the car
is it their first car
do they own more than one car
and so on.
By designing a questionnaire you can collect structured data. The sample questionnaire is handed to the subject and the data is collected. Every data collection project comes with a pre-decided sample size. That’s because meeting the entire population who fall under that category is impractical. Once the sample size is defined, you can start the groundwork for your project. Once the target number of data points is reached, data analysis takes place later.
Once the sample size is defined, you can start the groundwork for your project. Once the target number of data points is reached, data analysis takes place later.
Data is collected by hand and entered manually into the system. The paper forms are brought to the offices where the data is collected on them.
The conclusion of a project after data analysis could be something like this:
18% of the Tampa Population uses Ford cars.
More than 23% of the population own one or more cars.
31% of the population have Ford cars with ‘White’ color.
However, there are many disadvantages to using pen and paper as data collection methods. With the development of monitoring apps, traditional data collection methods are obsolete.

Drawbacks of Paper Based Data Collection:
Manual & Time-consuming – Yes, filling out paper forms is a tedious process.
Erroneous – Since, it’s a manual process, it invites a lot of errors to be committed.
Costly – Paper forms, printing, and physical storage is an expensive affair.
Data Entry – One needs to invest manhours in data entry (sometimes separate teams have to be hired).
Loss – Questionnaires can be lost at times, which leads to rework.
No status-tracking – You cannot track the status of the project unless the data has been entered in the system.
Lack of transparency – Since there are no real-time updates, maintaining transparency in paper-based processes is a challenge.
No Automation – Everything is downright manual in paper-based data collection. Therefore, there’s no scope of automation.
Low Productivity – Paper forms are long and unintelligent. It is obvious that they hamper productivity by a great deal.
Paper-based data collection tools are also referred to as offline data collection tools. This brings me to online data collection tools.
There are various alternatives available for online data collection. Google Surveys is one option used to collect data through online surveys. There are many good alternatives available to Google Surveys though.
You can create web forms using Axonator for surveys or any data collection project. Just drag and drop using the online platform to create questionnaires, and share the surveys with respondents to be filled.
But if you have teams who are engaged in field data collection on a day-to-day basis, then webforms are a bad idea because teams can’t carry desktops on the field.
If they are using a browser on a mobile device, then the data collection would heavily depend on the internet connection.
However, there’s a solution to this – mobile data collection.
Mobile Data Collection:
Mobile data collection has risen in popularity as a substitute for paper forms and online submissions. Platforms like Axonator make it easy to create mobile forms without programming. Plus unlimited mobile forms can be created quickly and easily for a data collection project. When the app is published, it can be installed on a range of mobile devices like iPad & smartphones through App Store & Play Store (Supports devices on platforms: Android & iOS). For field data collection, it’s very useful to use apps on your mobile device. The Internet is always needed for this kind of app. However, Axonator does not need a connection to collect data whenever the network isn’t available.
Offline data collection is a feature that field teams love since there are times when they have to travel to remote locations where the network availability is absent, or very weak. And with Axonator, a company can collect data offline too. The internet is required later when the information is to be sent to the cloud. Unless you need that information now, it stays safe for later with Axonator.
Features of Mobile Data Collection App:
Rich Data Capture You can’t capture images, audio or video with paper forms. But all of this is very much possible with mobile apps. Add fields for images, audio, and video in your mobile form to start collecting rich data over the mobile device.
Data Authenticity Data authenticity increases manifold with mobile data collection apps since it includes the signature feature as well. Features such as OTP & Unique prevent fake data submission by the team. It also eliminates duplicate entries.
Advanced Logic Advanced logic embedded in the Axonator mobile forms makes data collection a smooth process. Questions in the mobile forms can appear/disappear based on the previous responses marked. This makes form-filling an easy experience.
Quick Data Capture QR Code & Barcode features help to quickly scan codes and fetch the data without having to type anything on mobile forms.
Sub forms in a mobile app break longer forms into digestible small forms. This makes navigating between forms an easy process and doesn’t seem to be an overwhelming process.
Report-GenerationPaper forms require you to create reports manually after the data collection project concludes or in the interim, but with mobile forms like Axonator – this isn’t the case. Reports in PDF format are generated automatically whenever a form is submitted. Other reports too can be generated whenever required just with clicks.
Analytics is an important capability that is available with digital solutions like mobile apps for data collection. With paper forms, you might need a separate tool to deploy analytics. But with mobile data collection apps like Axonator, there’s an analytics dashboard that you can make use of. Just click to fetch important reports at any point in time, and you will be served with actionable insights.
Integration feature ties data collection platform with other systems. This makes data migration easy. One click and the collected data can be exported to different platforms like Google Drive, Zapier, CRM, SAP, ERP, Zapier, and more. Paper forms lack such a system completely. As stated already, everything is manual in paper-based data collection.
Real-time Notification You don’t have to wait for field reps to arrive back to the office to see the data. With mobile forms, when the data is submitted on the field, it becomes available in real-time at the office through cloud technology.
Cloud Data Storage Cloud technology safeguards the data at all times. Data can be accessed easily. You don’t have to worry about the physical storage and data loss problems, which is true in the case of paper forms.
Benefits of Mobile Data Collection App:
Getting data collected by a mobile device such as a smartphone is easy, and makes filling out forms much easier. Entering data used to take time, but now time is spent on generating content rather than entering it. Productivity can be increased because of this.
With fewer data entry teams required, office expenses are bound to come down. Furthermore, digital production costs, paper and warehouse storage are saved completely – significantly minimizing overhead expenditures.
Status-Tracking With real-time notification, tracking the status of the project becomes as easy as pie. Every project can be tracked record by record, which is almost impossible with paper forms. Platforms like Axonator come along with a dashboard that offers different views (map-view, list-view, & more) of records submitted, and the same information can be sorted with clicks easily. Visual reports with graphical representation are fetched in clicks to have a better understanding of data. Approvals of tasks can be granted using the same app – this terminates bottlenecks in decision-making.
Analytics provide actionable insights that help to improve the performance of collecting customer data. This enhances the process overall and can offer organizations useful data.
Paper forms, which are error-prone, can never guarantee data quality no matter how much they try. All of the above factors are solved with automatic biometric authentication and thanks to smartphone apps. This means you can have clean data because it’s collected through a mobile app with fingerprint recognition that is trusted in more than 51 countries worldwide. It’s not just another tool for collecting the data to automate processes; you even build workflows with ease!
Axonator app is used as a
Survey app
Inspection app
Code enforcement app
Compliance app
Audit app
Feedback app
Questionnaire app
Field Agent app
Ticket-generation app
And more.
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Interested in knowing how Axonator can help your business? Write to us at support@axonator.com