A different way of conducting a survey (low tech, low cost, no power required data gathering tool):

All images credited to Thayer Avenue

If you have been wondering how to design a more fun data gathering tool, consider the above. I noticed this seemingly successful attempt to gather data from a neighborhood farmers market in the Washington DC area. It struck me because of:

• the easy of use, fun approach compared to paper and pencil surveys
• potential increase in survey response due to above reason
• relative anonymity
• dual purpose data gathering + instant visual representation and analysis
• But also note one unusal drawback might be the influence previous responders have on future respondents.

I thought I would share this because this technique can be used in a variety of both formal and informal settings (group meetings, getting feedback from local communities). It is worth emphasizing the ease of use, the survey participant can just walk by and in a very short period of time answer a few questions (of course doesn’t apply to stigma laden issues). Also keep in mind that when you see this you still have to be careful of mis-interpretation (see our previous post on how graphic stats can mis-tell a story). And if you need some inspiration for data presentation just go see Hans Rosling (who we covered 2 years ago).

This also reminded me of a previous data gathering tool we highlighted that solves the visual respondent influence and potential bias (but would take away from the visual power of the above type of technique and would present other issues):

Related Links:
Forum One Communications: Data for Global Health, Part II, link
 HRIS Data Collection Toolkit (Designing Data Collection Tools and Procedures), link
Datadyne: Collecting Health Data through Open Source Tools, link
Mobiles for Data Collection: Gather , SCDRT