Reliable decisions need reliable data, and many organisations still collect it in ways that introduce delay and error: handwritten forms, inconsistent coding, double entry and long gaps between the field and the analyst. Mobile devices have changed what is possible. A well-built digital form can validate answers on the spot, record location, capture images and signatures, and send results to a server as soon as a connection is available.

The Digital Transformation in Data Collection, Survey Design & Mobile Tools Training Course covers both halves of good survey practice: the design thinking and the technology. It opens with study design, sampling approaches and questionnaire writing, then introduces form building with XLSForm and the main platforms used by development and research teams. Participants program skip patterns, constraints and calculations, run pilots, train enumerators and manage fieldwork with dashboards and spot checks. The closing sessions deal with cleaning, documentation, secure storage, ethics and the handover of datasets for analysis and reporting.

Training is highly practical. Each participant builds and deploys a working form, collects test data on a phone in a field exercise and cleans the resulting dataset, leaving with a reusable project template and a fieldwork plan.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Translate research questions and indicators into a clear questionnaire structure.
• Select an appropriate sampling approach and calculate a sample size.
• Write unbiased questions and apply skip logic, constraints and translations.
• Build, test and deploy digital forms using XLSForm, KoboToolbox and ODK Collect.
• Organise enumerator training, pilots, supervision and field quality control.
• Run offline, phone-based and remote surveys and manage data synchronisation.
• Clean, document and export datasets for analysis in Excel, Power BI, R or Stata.
• Apply consent, privacy and data security practices to survey data.

The course is designed for people who plan, run or use surveys, including:

• Monitoring and evaluation officers and managers
• Research officers and survey coordinators
• Statisticians and data analysts in government and statistics offices
• Programme staff in NGOs and development projects
• Field supervisors and enumerator team leaders
• Academic researchers and postgraduate students
• Market and social research professionals
• Public health, agriculture and education programme officers
• Information management and data quality officers

Participants leave the course with:

• A working XLSForm survey they have built, tested and deployed.
• A sampling plan and sample size worksheet for their own study.
• An enumerator training outline and field supervision checklist.
• A data cleaning script or Excel routine for common errors.
• A data protection and consent checklist for survey work.
• A project template they can reuse for future assessments and baselines.

The programme is delivered as a working lab, with the laptop and phone at the centre. Participants take part in:

• Guided form-building labs on KoboToolbox and ODK Collect
• A supervised field exercise collecting data on mobile devices
• Questionnaire clinics where participants critique each other's drafts
• Cleaning practice on a deliberately messy sample dataset
• Short methodology talks linking each tool back to survey quality

A CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy is awarded to participants who attend all sessions and build and test their own digital survey.