Data collection is a minefield of errors. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a researcher with one survey in the field, an NGO with 10 data collection drives per month, or a market research agency with tens of thousands of surveyors — any survey is full of opportunities for errors to slip into your data. Surveyors may be poorly trained, or…
The number of villages in India is anywhere between 600,000 and one million, according to various government databases. The number and the definition of villages vary across databases, making it challenging to plan across sectors for a village development plan. There are around 649,481 villages in India, according to Census 2011, the most authoritative source of information about administrative boundaries…
Writing a survey for a mobile app requires a different strategy than a survey taken with pen and paper or on a desktop computer. Mobile data collection is a completely different experience than standard surveys, and a mobile-friendly survey should reflect that. Below are some strategic and technical elements to consider when designing a survey for a mobile platform. 1.…
The road to a good monitoring and evaluation system is paved with a sound baseline survey. A survey is an integral part of effective data collection and analysis. While it might seem obvious that baseline information is necessary to understanding the cause and/or effect of any study or policy implementation, baseline surveys often don’t get the attention and effort they…
Development professionals work to make positive change happen through their programs and initiatives. However, it is very hard for them to measure their projects’ impact and evaluate how efficient they are. The best development projects are identified by their impact and their efficiency, and the best way to measure these is through a good project monitoring and evaluation system. In the…
What if machines could learn? This has been one of the most intriguing questions in science fiction and philosophy since the advent of machines. With modern technology, such questions are no longer bound to creative conjecture. Machine learning is all around us. From deciding which movie you might want to watch next on Netflix to predicting stock market trends,…
We worked with Tata Trusts to conduct two census surveys in Chandrapur (Maharashtra) and Noamundi (Jharkhand). Chandrapur and Noamundi are some of the most backward areas in their states. The areas have difficult terrain with little or no access to phone connectivity and electricity. The large-scale census surveys collected data for over 60,000 households within 2 months using tablets. The data…
You read it correctly. How to make a pie chart? You must be wondering why I am even writing this in the first place. Some of you may think pie charts are evil and shouldn’t be used. Some people are still under the illusion that they always make a pie chart correctly. Do you notice that something is wrong in…
With data scientist being hailed as the sexiest job of the 21st century, there has been an influx of “big data” companies, visualization tools, and other products. But unless the input data is cleaned and managed, all these products are fairly useless. As the saying goes: Garbage in, garbage out! This blog post is about the un-sexy aspects of data science – the practices…