Programmes, ministries and businesses all depend on survey evidence, but too many surveys still rely on paper forms, rushed training and unchecked data entry. Errors creep in through ambiguous questions, wrong skips, missing records and unsupervised interviewers, and are discovered only when the report is half written. Mobile data collection removes many of these problems, yet technology alone does not rescue a weak design.

The Practical Data Collection, Survey Design & Mobile Tools Training Course joins the thinking and the tooling. Participants first define what they need to know, select indicators and decide between quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches. They then learn questionnaire principles, response scales, translation and pre-testing, followed by probability and non-probability sampling, sample size calculation, weighting and handling of non-response. Hands-on labs follow in which every participant builds, deploys and tests a digital form, including calculations, validation rules and multi-language support.

The final sessions deal with the field: logistics, enumerator training, supervision, spot checks and dashboards that show progress and anomalies as submissions arrive. Participants export data, clean it and produce first tables, learning how quality control during collection prevents rework later. Each person completes a survey plan for a real or realistic study.

By the end of the five days, participants will be able to:

• Translate a research question into measurable indicators and a data collection plan.
• Write clear, unbiased questions and organise them into a logical questionnaire.
• Select a sampling approach and calculate a defensible sample size.
• Build and test mobile forms with skip logic, constraints, repeat groups and GPS capture.
• Deploy forms, manage devices and synchronise data offline and online.
• Train and supervise enumerators and run back-checks and spot checks.
• Apply ethical standards for consent, confidentiality and data protection in the field.
• Clean, export and summarise collected data for analysis.

The course will benefit people who design, manage or use survey data, including:

• Monitoring and evaluation officers and data managers
• Researchers and research assistants
• Statisticians and survey coordinators
• Programme and project managers commissioning surveys
• Market and social researchers
• University, think tank and policy analysts
• Government planning and statistics office staff
• Field supervisors and lead enumerators

Participants leave the course with:

• A working digital questionnaire built and tested on a phone.
• A sampling plan with a sample size calculation.
• An enumerator training outline and field manual checklist.
• A data quality monitoring plan with back-check rules.
• A consent and data protection protocol for respondents.
• A cleaned practice dataset and summary tables.

Learning is lab-based and tied to field reality. The programme uses:

• Guided build sessions for forms on participants' own devices
• Pilot interviews between participants to expose design flaws
• Sampling exercises using realistic household lists
• Simulated field monitoring with a sample dataset containing planted errors
• Group critique of each participant's survey plan

Participants who attend all sessions and complete the practical labs will receive a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion from Vision Reach Global Consultancy.

The certificate is awarded on the basis of attendance and the survey plan produced during the course.