Paper vs. Computer
Prior to leaving for Nepal, our team had discussed at length how the survey ought to be conducted. Elshad, who has had previous experience conducting and coordinating surveys in developing countries, shared with us that having a computer during the interview could be very distracting to children, and that we ought to use paper to collect the data. This decision was one of the best ones that we could have made, for a number of reasons:
It would have been truly distracting. Classrooms at some of the schools we have visited have been completely devastated by the earthquake, overcrowding the already modest school rooms. Computers are not common at many of the schools we visited; there might be one or two in the principal's office, but none that we have seen for the students.
Post interview, there are still uncertainties. Although our team has a clear understanding of the purpose of each question, some of the children will give you answers that stump the system. For instance, we ask about the primary source of energy for lighting in the home. Although we designed this to be a single coded answer, due to intermittent power outages, many homes operate on both electricity and solar. Once the panels have been installed, solar power is relatively free and electricity requires bill payment, so some homes have transitioned to using solar primarily to light certain parts of the home and electricity in others. Our current coding scheme was not designed to accomodate these complexities; had we used our computers, it would have been much more difficult to notate these differences.
Murphy’s law is a given with technology. Since we have arrived, strange things have been happening with our devices. Things that we have tested (for example, downloading an Excel workbook with data validation on an iPad) and things that we know from experience (transferring files on a USB stick) have simply not worked. Even in Kathmandu, we have experienced spotty internet connections, limited access to electricity, and have quickly run out of mobile data. Once separated and dispersed to different districts, there is no telling what else could have gone wrong and with limited ability to contact one another.
In short, sometimes what seems like the more simple tool may be the most appropriate.