Step 4: Collect data
In this step you will learn how to collect clean data. In particular you will learn the following:
- Collecting static(demographic) data and creating Contacts
- Collecting deduped data (without any duplicates)
- Correcting typos and mistakes in the data
- How to followup with the same stakeholders for data collection or data correction on a different form
Going back to the example we started. We need to start enrolling the girls and collect mid and post forms data from enrolled girls who are part of the program.
1. Creating Contacts
Click on Contacts from the side menu bar, the screen will look like so
You can use the form link as an enrollment form to start entering conatct information for the girls
or
You could embed the form on your website to collect registration information directly from your website
Every enrollment submitted through this form becomes a contact and gets a unique id, like so
2. Collecting data on feedback form (deduped data)
Remember the relationship step? You will now see the advantage of that.
Let us assume that the contact we just created needs to fill the mid program feedback form
Navigate to forms and click on the Mid Program Feedback, like so
You will notice that a record was automatically created for the girl that was just enrolled through the Contact form. And it has the same unique id that was generated through contacts
To get data from this girl, we could just copy the url and send it to the girl on an email
You can click on this example URL that belongs to "Lore" (in our example).
The beauty of Relationship feature is that only the girls in the contacts get a spot on the forms and every girl gets a unique link to fill in Mid Program form and Post Program form. This ensures that the girls can respond to the forms only once, eliminating the possibility of duplicate data that causes all sorts of problems during data analysis.
3. Correcting typos and mistakes in the collected data
Correcting typos and mistakes in Contacts or Forms is super simple.
Every entry in the Contacts or Forms gets a unique link that can be used to correct data.
For example, in the Girls contact object, we can correct the data by simply copying the unique link and sending it to the person for correction
Similarly in forms, we get a unique link per record. This is because of the Relationship feature which ensures that there are not duplicate records in the forms and keeps the unique id generated in the Contacts in sync with the related Forms.
For example, the unique id that exists in the Contacts, the same exists in Forms (Mid Program form) which helps in managing a unique link per record in the forms as well. We can once again just copy and send the link to relevant person with that unique id
4. Collecting data on follow up forms from the same stakeholders
Collecting data from the same girls on followup forms is super simple.
- Create the followup form, for example, Post Program Feedback
- Establish Relationship with Girls contact
- Step 2 ensures that every girl in Girls contact gets a unique link to post feedback on Post Program Feedback form
- Send the unique links to the girls and collect data
Thats it!
Congratulations! You now have an end-to-end working data collection system using Sopact Sense.
Follow our Detailed How-tos to understand advanced concepts.