Mobile Data Collection in Open Data Kit – ODK

Open data kit, commonly referred to as ODK is a set of popular free and open source tools that allow us to collect data using mobile devices.

Before we begin I assume you have heard of the term mobile data collection; which simply refers to the act of collecting data using mobile devices. The devices could be mobile phones or tablets. Well then, Open Data Kit is one of the many tools that are used for mobile data collection.

Being a pioneer tool of this nature, ODK is one of the most popular mobile data collection tools. The fact that it is free and open source also makes it a darling to many researchers considering the budget constraints that come about in many projects. Other reasons for its popularity are an active online support base and community and the fact that it has been tried and tested. It is worth mentioning that ODK best works on smartphones running the Android mobile operating system.

The Components of ODK

ODK is made of three (3) components that work together. These components are:

1. ODK Collect

This is a mobile application hosted on the Android Play Store. The app is free and easy to download and install. The app renders the survey on the phone where enumerators fill out the survey questions.

2. ODK Build / XLSForms

These are the survey authoring tools. The term survey authoring refers to the transformation of paper questionnaires to digital forms that can be accepted by the mobile devices.

To author forms, users have an option of using the ODK Build web interface or Microsoft Excel. ODK Build offers an easy to learn intuitive web interface. Microsoft Excel, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve since users have to learn the xls syntax for authoring forms.

3. ODK Aggregate / ODK Central

This is the survey data hosting platform or the database. You can easily download the latest version of ODK Aggregate from the official ODK website for free. As always, a database needs to be hosted in a web server to allow remote and concurrent access.

How does ODK work?

Digitize your questionnaire using ODK Build or Microsoft Excel.
Upload the questionnaire to your mobile device (ODK Collect).
Collect data using your mobile device.
Upload data to the database server.
Visualize, map, publish and analyze data inside the server dashboard.
Download data for analysis with other statistical software.

What type of data can you collect using ODK?

Numeric
Text
Calculations and logic conditions
GPS locations / coordinates
Video and Audio clips
Photos / Images
Barcodes
Digital Signatures and many more.