Collecting data in the field without internet: a guide for field teams

Some of the most important data is collected where the network is weakest: villages, camps, border areas, disaster zones. A paper questionnaire survives the journey but costs weeks of typing afterwards, and typing introduces errors. A phone or tablet app that needs a constant connection fails the moment the signal drops. What field teams need is an app that works fully offline and sends the answers when it can.

The plan in one picture

1. Before the field, with internet: every device is linked to the survey and the questionnaire is downloaded onto it.
2. In the field, with no internet: collectors fill in answers, which are saved on the device.
3. Whenever there is a connection, even a poor one: the saved answers are sent.
4. At the office: a supervisor sees the answers arriving, each with the collector who gathered it.

The rest of this article is about doing each step well.

Before you go

Prepare the questionnaire. Test it end to end yourself. Check required questions, number ranges and skip logic, and ask someone who did not write it to fill it in. Mistakes found now cost minutes; mistakes found after a week in the field cost the week.

Link every device while you still have internet. Linking a device for the first time needs a connection, because that is when the questionnaire is downloaded. So do this at the office, the hotel or the last town with a signal, not at the first village.

Give each collector their own code. One code opens one survey on one collector's device, with no separate account to create or manage. Because each answer carries the collector's identity, you can see who collected what, support them, and spot problems early. If a collector changes phone, the code can be moved to the new device; if someone leaves the team, the code can be stopped.

Decide limits in advance. If each collector should gather a fixed number of responses, set that response limit when you issue their code. Separately, the survey or form itself has a limit that comes from your plan, packs and any closing date. A collector can be stopped by either one, so a collector may be told they are full while the survey still has room for others.

Check the language. If respondents speak several languages, translate and approve the questionnaire in advance. The collector can then choose the survey language on the device; changing it needs a connection because the new language has to be downloaded, so choose before leaving.

In the field

• Save as you go. Answers are stored on the device immediately, and incomplete ones can be kept as drafts and finished later.
• Mark answers ready to send when an interview is complete and checked.
• Do not wait until the end of the week to send. Until an answer is sent, it exists only on that device. A phone that is lost, broken or reset before sending takes its answers with it. Ask collectors to send whenever they pass a connection, even for a few minutes.
• Keep devices charged, and carry a power bank. A dead phone mid-interview loses the interview.

When the connection returns

The app sends everything that is waiting, automatically. Some answers may be refused, for example when a collector's own limit is reached or the survey is full. Refused answers are marked as errors with the reason under each one. If the collector can fix the problem, such as a missing answer, they correct it and send it again. If not, they should not delete it: they export it and give the file to the supervisor, who decides what to do. Plan for this, because it is better to find out on day two than at the end.

Following your team

While collectors are out, the supervisor can follow each one: how many answers they have sent, when their device last synced, whether they have reached their limit, and how many answers were refused. A collector who has been silent for two days or more is usually a flat battery, a broken phone or someone who stopped working, and a quick phone call settles it.

A short checklist

• Questionnaire tested by someone other than its author.
• Every device linked with its own code, with a connection.
• Languages translated and approved, if more than one is needed.
• Quotas and limits set.
• Collectors know to send whenever they pass a connection.
• Power banks packed.
• A supervisor assigned to follow the results daily.

In Pulseform

The Collect app works as described above, for both surveys and forms: linking with a code needs a connection, then answering works offline, and answers are sent automatically when the device is back online. See what Collect is, using the Collect app, collector codes and quotas in the guide. Some form features can only be checked online, so check the guide's list before choosing a form for offline use.