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Use of Handheld Computers with Global Positioning Systems for Probability Sampling and Data Entry in Household Surveys

We introduce an innovative method that uses personal digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with global positioning system (GPS) units in household surveys to select a probability-based sample and perform PDA-based interviews. Our approach uses PDAs with GPS to rapidly map all households in selected areas, choose a random sample, and navigate back to the sampled households to conduct an interview. We present recent field experience in two large-scale nationally representative household surveys to assess insecticide-treated bed net coverage as part of malaria control efforts in Africa. The successful application of this method resulted in statistically valid samples; quality-controlled data entry; and rapid aggregation, analyses, and availability of preliminary results within days of completing the field work. We propose this method as an alternative to the Expanded Program on Immunization cluster sample method when a fast, statistically valid survey is required in an environment with little census information at the enumeration area level.

Received February 6, 2007. Accepted for publication April 30, 2007.

Acknowledgments: We thank the many people who participated in our surveys and the interviewers from the Togolese Ministry of Health, Togolese Red Cross, Niger Ministry of Health, and Red Cross Society of Niger for their time, energy, and willingness to learn something entirely new. Special thanks to Dr. Marcy Erskine (Canadian Red Cross) for her logistical support. We also thank others at CDC, particularly Dr. Natasha Hochberg, Dr. Alexandre Macedo de Oliveira, and Dr. Ramesh Krishnamurthy for their time and energy learning and implementing this method in the field, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for their assistance.

Financial support: The surveys for which method was developed were supported by the Canadian International Development Agency, through the Canadian Red Cross.

Disclaimer: The opinions or assertions contained in this manuscript are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the U.S. Public Health Service or Department of Health and Human Services. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Public Health Service or Department of Health and Human Services.

^* Address correspondence to Jodi L. Vanden Eng, Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop F-22, 4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA 30341. E-mail: jev8{at}cdc.gov

Authors’ addresses: Jodi L. Vanden Eng, Adam Wolkon, Anatoly S. Frolov, M. James Eliades, William A. Hawley, and Allen W. High-tower, Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop F-22, 4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA 30341. Dianne J. Terlouw, Child and Reproductive Health Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, L3 5QA, Liverpool, United Kingdom. Kodjo Morgah, Vincent Takpa, Aboudou Dare, Yao K. Sodahlon, and Yao Doumanou, Ministère de la Santé, BP 386, Lomé, Togo.