COVID-19 remote data collection services

In the Global South, COVID-19 has made accessing timely population data a life-and-death concern while also interrupting in-person program and survey activities. This has accelerated interest in remote data collection techniques for low-income, hard-to-reach populations. These techniques can dramatically reduce time, cost, and risk in comparison to in-person surveys. However, remote methods also present data content and quality limitations, which can yield misleading or damaging outcomes. Through years of systematic design testing, our Data on Demand initiative has optimized remote practices for every stage of data collection and processing. These include remote techniques for sampling, survey design, training, survey assignment, survey execution, quality control, and analysis. It is unusual for us to offer a technical service independent from our advisory team. However, COVID-19 has generated clear and urgent needs that prompt this unprecedented step to help minimize the virus’s direct and indirect societal damage.