At the global level the current trend for polls and surveys, is the total elimination of paper as a data collection method, and the increasingly acceptance of mobile computing devices. To incorporate these technologies into our firm value chain, these devices must be carefully evaluated and tested to avoid unwanted costs, technical failures or methodological flaws that put at risk the delivery time, data quality and results of your study.
"Rotator Mobile Interview" allows a reliable and efficient way of data capture in the field without the need of using paper. Mobile computing devices such as SmartPhones or tablets, allow you to increase the efficiency of the data collection process by not requiring transcription and by performing data validation just at the momment of the capture. Nevertheless the real advantage of data capture automation with mobile devices is only the savings on paper, but the quality of the data collected and the speed of the results. Mobile computing device for the quantitative research can be thought of: Smart Phones, Laptops, Pocket computers (Handheld computers) or tablets, each of them with advantages and disadvantages. It should be made clear that we are witnessing a technological change where technologies are converging and new innovations are occurring year by year in this field. Some firms such as IDC and Garther Group predict the total replacement of the desktop PC; by laptops, notebooks and phones which allow greater mobility. Old operating systems for PDAs including Windows Mobile, Windows Ce, Simbian, Blackberry and others are being all replaced by Android (Google), Windows 10 (Microsoft) or Ios (Apple). Tecnhnological changes are transforming mobile devices into powerful computers thus producing an tremendous change in the way data capture is being done for applications such as inventory, inspections, surveys, etc.
Rotator supports both options on mobile devices Online and Offline: On-line surveys with Rotator are created and published exactly as a web page (CAWI), once in the cloud, any device including PCs, laptops and SmartPhones with access to the Internet can access it. The device may use G3 or G4 to access the questionnaire over the Internet, all what is needed is a browser running on the device, such as Google Chrome, IE, Safari, etc. In the case of offline CAPI surveys, a device running Android, iOs, or Windows downloads the questionnaire to the memory of the device and the offline survey gets ready to be applied on the field. The advantage of on-line questionnaires is that the data is stored straightly into a repository on the Web, while in the caase of the off-line mode, the data is store in the memory of the device, so this data have to sent tothe main database on the Web for its consolidation. In any case, we strongly recommend to test your devices with a real questionnaire before going to the field and start the data collection process.
A table PCs is a computer device that is between a PDA and a laptop. The Table PCs is the perfect device for applying surveys in places such as shopping malls, shops, hotels, massive events, and even in the street. This is a portable computer which you can interact with to record the responses of the respondent without using a physical keyboard, nor mouse. Tables use mobile processors, which consume little power so you achieve a decent autonomy time between 3 and 8 hours. The most common sizes are 7'' and 10''. The first are the easiest to carry, and perfect for survey applications, although the latter are more versatile, due to its larger screen.
RotatorSurvey commitment is to support any computer device running any operating system. If you have purchased or are thinking of purchasing mobile devices, keep in mind that some operating systems tend to disappear, and is predicted that the survivors will be Windows and Android. All analysts agree the extinction of small proprietary operating systems given the extraordinary minimization of hardware and the reduced cost of memory and CPUs.