Remote Data Collection (RDC) is module for the DatStat Platform which gives you the ability to capture data in areas where an internet connection is sparse or nonexistent.
Data collection in Illume Next can occur in one of two ways: through the web, or remotely using RDC (which does not require an internet connection). Remote Data Collection (RDC) is a method of collecting offline Interviewer-driven Illume surveys in environments in which obtaining an internet connection is difficult or impossible. It allows interviewers to pull open the survey completely offline, and administer it to multiple interviewees, with the survey having the same functionality as it would on the web. Once an interviewer has completed the interviews for the day, RDC provides the ability to send (or “synch”) those collected data, sending them from the interviewer’s local device up to the server.
Illume Next survey sessions taken offline store a file on the tablet of the RDC user. By default, this storage location is in the user’s C drive folder on the device. If multiple users are to use the same tablet, then this storage location should be edited to be a storage location to which all windows users have access. This storage location is edited by going to the Edit menu/ Storage location.
If any virus software is installed on the tablet, that software should be configured to NOT scan the aforementioned storage folder, so as to prevent that virus software from “holding” a file during scanning while the Illume application needs to access it.
On a periodic basis DatStat releases an update to the Illume software. In most cases, these updates do not affect RDC, and thus there is no action you need to take. Occasionally, however, bugs are fixed or new features are added. When this occurs, your server will be upgraded to this new version. When your server gets upgraded to a new version, you must also upgrade your RDC device so that your device version matches the server version. To do so, simply follow the steps above to obtain the Client Install for the most recent version.
To be notified of Illume product releases, you may sign up for notifications on the Release Notes page for Illume by filling out the form at the bottom of the page. Whenever a release occurs, the release notes will be available on the DatStat Academy and an email will be sent to those subscribed to release updates notifying them of the new release. Release notes describe the changes in the current version from the prior version. There is a section in the Release Notes for RDC when changes are made to the RDC module. If RDC is not listed, then there is no need to download a new RDC device. It is extremely rare for changes to be made to RDC, so it is likely that this will only need to occur once in a year.
Individuals utilizing the RDC client must be set up as Users by the organization’s Administrator. There are two types of RDC users: Those whose sole responsibility is to collect data via RDC, and those who have multiple responsibilities/privileges beyond remote data collection.
The steps below are for creating a user whose sole responsibility is to collect data via RDC.
Steps:
NOTE: After selecting the Security Type, Project, and User Role, click the Add Role button for each role added.
NOTE: Sites may or may not exist at the time of User creation. A Site can also be assigned afterward by editing the User.
A User that is a Remote Data Collector in a may also have other roles within the project. For this reason they cannot be added as a Remote Data Collection User but must be a “Normal” User with a specific set of permissions.
Steps:
NOTE: Sites may or may not exist at the time of User creation. A Site can also be assigned afterward by editing the User.
When you pull down the survey, you are also pulling down the associated Participant List, i.e. the individuals you’ve created through Uploading IDs onto the Participant List. Therefore before following the steps below, ensure you have added participants to your list.
To view the surveys that are available for remote data collection, click on the Remote Data Collection tab and click on the survey in the left-hand pane. The Survey Status pane shows you information about the survey, including the version of the survey currently in remote data collection, the number of complete survey sessions collected but not synchronized with the Illume server, and the number of sessions in progress (sessions that have been started but not submitted).
There are two colors utilized in the survey list:
Once you have retrieved the survey(s) to your local device, you can go out into the field and administer them without an internet connection.
If the data have been synchronized, you can continue right where you left off on ANY device. If data has not been synchronized, you MUST continue where you left off on the SAME device. Otherwise, you will run into the issues with multiple tablets accessing the same survey, with the risk of sessions being overwritten in the database.
There are two ways to resume the partially completed survey from the RDC device:
When the Survey begins the Resume Page will open with the choices of Restore or Start Over with the survey. Both choices may not be available if they have been disabled by the Survey Programmer. The wording may also different than as shown below due to changes made by the programmer.
While out in the field collecting data, changes may be made to the content of the surveys. When these changes are made, a new “version” of the survey is created (Illume numbers the versions starting at 1 and increasing sequentially with each new version). Interviewers can obtain the new version of a survey by Synchronizing their devices (see section on Synchronizing).
Interviews started in one version will always resume in the new version. If “major” changes were made to the survey (major changes include adding or moving a question or changing survey logic), the interview will resume at the start of the survey. If only “minor” changes were made to the survey (minor changes include correcting text content), then the interview will resume at the point at which you left off in the interview.
To resume a synced partial session while online, simply navigate to the survey URL and enter the authentication credentials on the login page. You will reach the same “Resume/Restore” page.
Continue with the Survey.
Remote Data Collection allows Users to download one or multiple surveys, and the associated participant lists, so they may be administered offline. In most cases a single User will be responsible for a specific set of Participants. However, there may be times where any number of Users will have the same list of Participants. If more than one User may administer a survey, or collect data, from a specific participant there is the potential for Data Synchronization issues.
An interview started on a particular device for a specific participant should always be completed and synced from that same device. The risk of not doing so is the possibility of ending up with two sessions for the same participant on two different devices, and thus 2 data sets. When those two data sets get synced, Illume will not know which session contains the “right” data, so it will use the most recent submission as the one that is kept (thus overwriting the initial submission). If the most recent sync contains less data than the prior sync, you may end up losing some of your collected data.
The best prevention strategy is to use a procedure whereby an interviewer always completes a survey session on the same device it was initiated.
Synchronizing performs the following actions:
Synchronizing should occur before going out into the field to collect data (to ensure the device has the most recent survey version, submission statuses, and participant information), and after data collection once you’ve returned from the field.
Note: While an interview with a Participant remains in an unsubmitted state (i.e. partial or in progress), the data still reside in a file on your local device. In contrast, once you have fully submitted a survey, synchronizing your data PERMANENTLY removes it from the device on which it was collected. This is an important security measure built into the remote data collection module.
You can synchronize after one interview or after many interviews – there are no restrictions on how many interviews you can do before you synchronize. Keep in mind, however, that until you synchronize, all of the data are being stored on that local computer. Only one survey can be synchronized at a time.
To change the location where remote data are stored on the local machine:
NOTE: Doing this will copy all of your existing Remote Data Collection data to the new location.
Once collecting data remotely has been completed for a survey and all collected data synchronized, the survey can be removed from the Remote Data Collection tab.
NOTE: Removing a survey will delete remotely collected data that has not been synchronized and cannot be undone. To save collected data for the survey, be sure to synchronize the survey before removing it.
Steps to Remove:
Offline surveys in the context of a Discovery study operate in the same way as web surveys when it comes to access to those surveys for data collection. Like web surveys, an RDC survey will become available for Data Collection if:
Adding Discovery Study Surveys to RDC Device:
NOTE: There will be no prompt for a participant list as there is only one list associated to the study.
Adding Surveys with Multiple Studies and/or Illume only Surveys
When users have access to multiple Discovery Studies, the Get Survey for Remote Data Collection window will change.
After selecting surveys from different studies and/or stand alone surveys, the Surveys window will show the following information:
Collecting data with Surveys in a Study is the same as with a Standard Illume survey. The only difference is the amount of detail shown for each participant.
In addition to the study-specific data displayed, Remote Data Collection will permit users to administer specific instances of a survey to a participant. For example, if the participant is scheduled to take 4 of the Sports Lab surveys on different dates, the Remote Data Collection user will have the option for which of these survey instances to administer.
Synchronizing Surveys from Discovery Studies
When surveys utilized in Discovery studies are synched from a Remote device, and those surveys have a Completed status (i.e. the Submit button has been hit), the Survey study task in Discovery will show as having a final complete status code (or whatever custom status code is being used by the Study for surveys with a final complete status). Just as with any other survey, once a completed survey session has been synched, that survey study task cannot be “opened” again.