Computer Assisted Personal Interviews to be widely used in field surveys

To improve efficiency, save time and cost, and improve the quality of data collection, the Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) project has developed a laptop-based data collection tool for use in field surveys.

The Markets, Institutions & Policies (MIP) research program at ICRISAT has developed a tool referred to as Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI). This tool will cut down the time required for data to be made available at the headquarters from 5 months to 1 week in addition to saving time of the farmers/respondents. The estimated cost savings are of the order: ₹ 28,500 (US$ 477) per village per year incurred on printing and transportation of checklists and ₹ 250,000 (US$ 4,185) per village per year on data entry and related expenses. It will also result in improved data quality compared to the tools currently in use. The CAPI is based on the CSPro software used for data analysis and is an important milestone in the long history of the project.

As part of the project, MIP organized the Annual Review and Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) Training Workshop for VDSA Field Investigatorsat ICRISAT headquarters, Patancheru, India from 9-17 June. ICRISAT Deputy Director General-Research, Dr CLL Gowda, and Dr MCS Bantilan, Program Director, MIP inaugurated the training workshop. They highlighted the importance of field investigators in household surveys, and in ensuring the high quality of the survey data. “Our field investigators are the real gemstones of the jewel, and their contribution is very valuable in making this jewel shine.” said Dr Gowda. Dr Bantilan gave an overview of the importance of digitization and automation of the household survey activities to ensure efficiency and quality of the data surveyed.

The CAPI survey tool has been pilot tested in two villages of Andhra Pradesh, India since January 2014. During 2014-15, the system will be tested in six villages after which it will be ready to use in all the 42 villages in the second phase of the project. The CAPI software was developed in-house by Mr Ravi Chand, VDSA Data Officer.

Eighteen field investigators from 18 villages spread over six states of India, and five supervisors participated in the training. The participants were given hands-on training in using the computer software and navigation of the questionnaires coupled with real interview sessions. Similar training will be given to field supervisors and investigators in east India and Bangladesh. The VDSA project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.