Design your form
The content of the MDC-toolkit.org website was transferred to the IM Resource Portal in May 2021, more information here: https://www.mdc-toolkit.org/were-moving/
Below you can find detailed information on how to design and test your MDC form and what rules to keep in mind when designing. These rules concern more technical MDC issues, as indications for XLS coding, but also methodological and theoretical aspects, such as general M&E principles and advice.
NB: Don't hesitate to also check out the "Train your teams" page, where the Survey Manager presentations cover a lot of material on Kobo and XLSforms coding. Also, the "Data Protection Starter Kit" page provides you with useful information such as how to set up encryption in your Mobile Data Collection tool.
Generic M&E principles and advice
Don't hesitate to check out ACAPS's great technical brief on questionnaire design
Form-design rules
- Encoder guide for Kobo Excel data analyser users
- Best practices for form testing : See the ODK's document on the subject : https://docs.opendatakit.org/form-best-practices/ and CartONG blog post https://blog.cartong.org/2020/01/22/bonnes-pratiques-pour-tester-un-formulaire-denquete/ (Waiting for translation)
- Recommendations for the naming of questions variables and answer choices
- Name vs Label
Choosing your tool and setting up your form
- Advanced user - Advanced XLS form tool features
- First steps with XLS form (see also: https://xlsform.org/)
- Best practices for adapting an existing XLS form
- Managing external data
- Running a pre and post training assessment
- Working with different languages
- Using barcodes
- Adding media as responses or helpful notes
- Managing administrative data (see:https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/fr/applications/kobotoolbox/document/how-use-p-codes-kobo)
- Discover a few tips and tricks on how to collect GPS data with mobile devices: https://blog.cartong.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Tips_collecting_GPSdata_with_Mobile-Devices.pdf
Don't hesitate to also refer to the wealth of information available on XLSform.org, the ODK and Kobo websites and forums and also some CartONG blog posts for advanced features: https://blog.cartong.org/2015/08/11/advanced-xls-forms-coding-1/ , https://blog.cartong.org/2015/08/21/advanced-xls-forms-coding-2/ , https://blog.cartong.org/2019/12/10/advanced-xls-forms-coding-n3/ et https://blog.cartong.org/2019/12/17/advanced-xls-forms-coding-n4/. You can also find resources in the ODK website documentation : https://docs.opendatakit.org/form-regex/#tips-on-using-regular-expressions.
Basic user - Online form builder
- Basic user - Online form builder
- Most common technical survey conception errors : see CartONG blog post https://blog.cartong.org/2019/12/02/les-6-omissions-courantes-debutant-conception-formulaire-denquete-pour-mdc/ (Waiting for translation)
- Working with different languages: Check out this tutorial on the Kobo help center on Adding another language to your form: https://support.kobotoolbox.org/en/articles/2647526-adding-another-language-to-your-form-in-the-project-dashboard
Translation without borders have produced considerable work around the topic of translation in the field. By following this link you can see one of their case studies and discover why a good translation is really important to ensure the quality of your MDC projects: https://translatorswithoutborders.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/TWB_Nigeria_EnumeratorComprehension_Nov2018-1.pdf
---Coming soon---
Tdh MDC data sharing rules