Surveys and routine monitoring feed almost every funding report, evaluation and policy decision in the development sector. When data are collected badly, the consequences travel a long way: wrong baselines, targets that cannot be verified and findings that donors and communities do not trust. Moving from paper to mobile collection can improve speed and quality, but only if the underlying design is sound.

The Fundamentals of Data Collection, Survey Design & Mobile Tools Training Course gives newcomers a complete, practical foundation. Participants start with research questions, indicators and data sources, and compare methods such as household surveys, key informant interviews, focus groups and observation. They then learn the craft of questionnaire design, including question types, wording, response options, ordering, translation and pre-testing, followed by sampling basics, sample size thinking and bias.

The second half of the course is a digital workshop. Participants program forms in KoboToolbox and ODK, test them on devices, manage a mock field team, check incoming data for errors and prepare datasets for analysis. Principles of consent, confidentiality and safe data storage run throughout. Participants finish with a tested form and a field data collection plan they can reuse on live projects.

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

• Translate a research or monitoring need into clear questions and indicators.
• Choose suitable quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
• Write clear, unbiased questionnaire items and pre-test them.
• Apply basic sampling methods and recognise sources of bias.
• Build and deploy digital forms with validation and skip logic.
• Organise enumerator training, supervision and field logistics.
• Apply informed consent, confidentiality and data protection principles.
• Clean, check and export collected data for analysis.

The course is a good starting point for anyone who collects or manages data in the field, such as:

• Monitoring and evaluation officers and assistants
• Programme and project officers in NGOs and government agencies
• Research assistants and survey enumerators
• Field supervisors and data managers
• Statisticians and planning officers
• Graduate students conducting fieldwork
• Community development and health programme staff
• Staff of donor-funded projects responsible for baseline and endline surveys

Participants complete the course with:

• A tested questionnaire and matching digital form for a real or sample project.
• A sampling plan with a clear explanation of how respondents are selected.
• An enumerator training outline and field supervision checklist.
• A data quality checking routine to run daily during fieldwork.
• A consent script and data protection checklist.
• A clean Excel dataset with a simple codebook.

This is a learn-by-doing course for beginners, so lectures are brief. The approach uses:

• Laptop and smartphone labs for building and testing digital forms
• A running case: a household survey designed from objectives to dataset
• Mock interviews in pairs to test questions and practise enumerator skills
• Group critiques of poorly written questionnaires
• Take-home form templates and checklists

Participants who attend all sessions and complete the questionnaire and digital form exercises will be awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.