Challenges and Opportunities of Mobile Phone-Based Data Collection : Evidence from South Sudan

Demombynes, Gabriel ; Gubbins, Paul ; Romeo, Alessandro

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO SERVICES;    BLOG;    CALL CENTER;    CELL PHONE;    CELLULAR NETWORKS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6321
RP-ID  :  WPS6321

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The proliferation of mobile phones indeveloping countries has generated a wave of interest incollecting high-frequency socioeconomic surveys using thistechnology. This paper considers lessons from one suchsurvey effort in a difficult environment -- the South SudanExperimental Phone Survey, which gathered data on livingconditions, access to services, and citizen attitudes viamonthly interviews by phones provided to respondents.Non-response, particularly in later rounds of the survey,was a substantial problem, largely due to erraticfunctioning of the mobile network. However, selection due tonon-response does not appear to have markedly affectedsurvey results. Response rates were much higher forrespondents who owned their own phones. Both compensationprovided to respondents in the form of airtime and the typeof phone (solar-charged or traditional) were variedexperimentally. The type of phone was uncorrelated withresponse rates and, contrary to expectation, attrition wasslightly higher for those receiving the higher level ofcompensation. The South Sudan Experimental Phone Surveyexperience suggests that mobile phones can be a viable meansof data collection for some purposes, that calling people ontheir own phones is preferred to handing out phones, andthat careful attention should be given to the potential forselective non-response.