A rundown of 10 reasons that, for quantitative data collection by fieldworkers, mobiles offer a compelling alternative to paper.

A recent tour of Italy revealed some unexpected difficulties in setting up a new pre-paid SIM card to access the TIM network.

The translation process is only applicable to certain field research projects but introduces a further logistical complexity when it is required. In a country like South Africa, which has 11 official languages, even in highly targeted field studies or other data collection exercises, having surveys available in a few languages is often a requirement.

Survey design for paper-based field research often involves multiple stakeholders, who make use of inappropriate tools to compose and collaborate on the production of instruments for fieldworkers.

Field research and data collection is a logistically complex exercise. The sheer number of processes which are entailed as well as the tightly coupled interdependency pose enormous challenges to those involved in paper-based field research.

Innovative while at the same time providing stable software that allows us to have confidence in the data we collect.

Mobile Researcher cut my research cost and time by nearly half.

Mobile Researcher has made my life as a researcher infinitely easier – it is one of the best discoveries I have made in the last decade.