Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability?
As mobile phone ownership rates have risen dramatically in Africa, there has been increased interest in using mobile telephones as a data collection platform. This note draws on two largely successful pilot projects in Tanzania and South Sudan that...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17172618/collecting-high-frequency-data-using-mobile-phones-timely-data-lead-accountability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17046 |
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okr-10986-170462021-04-23T14:03:33Z Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? Croke, Kevin Dabalen, Andrew Demombynes, Gabriel Giugale, Marcelo Hoogeveen, Johannes ACCOUNTABILITY ACTIONS CALL CENTER CALL CENTERS CIVIL SOCIETY CONNECTIVITY DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKERS DOMAIN ECONOMIC POLICY ELECTRICITY ENUMERATORS FLEXIBILITY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INTERVIEWS JOURNALISTS LIMITED ACCESS LISTENING MEDIA MOBILE PHONE MOBILE PHONES MOBILE TELEPHONES NETWORKS NEW TECHNOLOGY OPINION PERCEPTION PHONE NUMBER PHONE NUMBERS PILOT PROJECTS POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMING PROGRAMS PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY RELIABILITY RESULTS SERVICE DELIVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS STAKEHOLDERS SURVEY DATA TELEPHONE TELEVISION USERS USES VILLAGE WEB WEB SITE As mobile phone ownership rates have risen dramatically in Africa, there has been increased interest in using mobile telephones as a data collection platform. This note draws on two largely successful pilot projects in Tanzania and South Sudan that used mobile phones for high-frequency data collection. Data were collected on a wide range of topics and in a manner that was cost-effective, flexible, and rapid. Once households were included in the survey, they tended to stick with it: respondent fatigue has not been a major issue. While attrition and nonresponse have been challenges in the Tanzania survey, these were due to design flaws in that particular survey, challenges that can be avoided in future similar projects. Ensuring use of the data to demand better service delivery and policy decisions turned out to be as challenging as collecting the high-quality data. Experiences in Tanzania suggest that good data can be translated into public accountability, but also demonstrate that just putting data out in the public domain is not enough. This note discusses lessons learned and offers suggestions for future applications of mobile phone surveys in developing countries, such as those planned for the World Bank's "Listening to Africa" initiative. 2014-02-12T19:57:31Z 2014-02-12T19:57:31Z 2013-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17172618/collecting-high-frequency-data-using-mobile-phones-timely-data-lead-accountability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17046 English en_US Economic premise;no. 102 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research Africa |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCOUNTABILITY ACTIONS CALL CENTER CALL CENTERS CIVIL SOCIETY CONNECTIVITY DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKERS DOMAIN ECONOMIC POLICY ELECTRICITY ENUMERATORS FLEXIBILITY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INTERVIEWS JOURNALISTS LIMITED ACCESS LISTENING MEDIA MOBILE PHONE MOBILE PHONES MOBILE TELEPHONES NETWORKS NEW TECHNOLOGY OPINION PERCEPTION PHONE NUMBER PHONE NUMBERS PILOT PROJECTS POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMING PROGRAMS PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY RELIABILITY RESULTS SERVICE DELIVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS STAKEHOLDERS SURVEY DATA TELEPHONE TELEVISION USERS USES VILLAGE WEB WEB SITE |
| spellingShingle |
ACCOUNTABILITY ACTIONS CALL CENTER CALL CENTERS CIVIL SOCIETY CONNECTIVITY DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKERS DOMAIN ECONOMIC POLICY ELECTRICITY ENUMERATORS FLEXIBILITY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INTERVIEWS JOURNALISTS LIMITED ACCESS LISTENING MEDIA MOBILE PHONE MOBILE PHONES MOBILE TELEPHONES NETWORKS NEW TECHNOLOGY OPINION PERCEPTION PHONE NUMBER PHONE NUMBERS PILOT PROJECTS POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMING PROGRAMS PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY RELIABILITY RESULTS SERVICE DELIVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS STAKEHOLDERS SURVEY DATA TELEPHONE TELEVISION USERS USES VILLAGE WEB WEB SITE Croke, Kevin Dabalen, Andrew Demombynes, Gabriel Giugale, Marcelo Hoogeveen, Johannes Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| geographic_facet |
Africa |
| relation |
Economic premise;no. 102 |
| description |
As mobile phone ownership rates have
risen dramatically in Africa, there has been increased
interest in using mobile telephones as a data collection
platform. This note draws on two largely successful pilot
projects in Tanzania and South Sudan that used mobile phones
for high-frequency data collection. Data were collected on a
wide range of topics and in a manner that was
cost-effective, flexible, and rapid. Once households were
included in the survey, they tended to stick with it:
respondent fatigue has not been a major issue. While
attrition and nonresponse have been challenges in the
Tanzania survey, these were due to design flaws in that
particular survey, challenges that can be avoided in future
similar projects. Ensuring use of the data to demand better
service delivery and policy decisions turned out to be as
challenging as collecting the high-quality data. Experiences
in Tanzania suggest that good data can be translated into
public accountability, but also demonstrate that just
putting data out in the public domain is not enough. This
note discusses lessons learned and offers suggestions for
future applications of mobile phone surveys in developing
countries, such as those planned for the World Bank's
"Listening to Africa" initiative. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Brief |
| author |
Croke, Kevin Dabalen, Andrew Demombynes, Gabriel Giugale, Marcelo Hoogeveen, Johannes |
| author_facet |
Croke, Kevin Dabalen, Andrew Demombynes, Gabriel Giugale, Marcelo Hoogeveen, Johannes |
| author_sort |
Croke, Kevin |
| title |
Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| title_short |
Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| title_full |
Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| title_fullStr |
Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Collecting High-Frequency Data Using Mobile Phones : Do Timely Data Lead to Accountability? |
| title_sort |
collecting high-frequency data using mobile phones : do timely data lead to accountability? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17172618/collecting-high-frequency-data-using-mobile-phones-timely-data-lead-accountability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17046 |
| _version_ |
1764435242665377792 |