Lab 7: Using Survey 123 to Gather Survey Data using your Smart Phone
Using Survey 123 to gather survey data using your smart phone
Introduction
This lab
was a tutorial from Learn ArcGIS Online, called “Get Started with Survey 123 for
ArcGIS” (Figure 1). This tutorial walks students through the process of
creating a survey, as well as, the viewing the survey data collected and the
analysis of the data.
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| Figure 1. An image of the tutorial taken on Learn ArcGIS Online. |
Survey 123
stresses that it is a field data collection system that makes accurate field
data collection easy. The survey can be created online and then the app can be
downloaded on Android or Apple devices and surveys can be taken from the app.
Therefore, making data collection in the field much easier, while still being
accurate. The data can also be analyzed in the field for quick decision making
in the field.
Methodology
The first
step is to go to the survey 123 website and log on. Once this is done, the “create
a new survey” button can be hit. For this tutorial, the web designer option was
selected. The next step is to name and write a summary of the new survey
(Figure 2). For this tutorial, the name and purpose of the survey was, “HOA
Emergency Preparedness Survey”. When everything is filled in correctly, the
create button can be selected and the survey will be created.
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| Figure 2. The "create a new survey" screen that pops up when creating a new survey with Survey 123. Here the name, tags, and summary of the survey can be inputted before the creation of the survey. |
The next step is to add questions
to the survey. One the right-hand side of the website there will be four tabs
that will be helpful in creating the survey. There is add, edit, appearance,
and settings. This survey started with selecting the date button in the add
section. This question was then given a label, the submitting date was
selected, and the require question button was selected. This completed this
question so the save button was hit (Figure 3). The next question of this
survey was the participants name, so the single line text button was selected. Other
various questions were added that involved single choice questions, multiple
choice questions, number questions, and Geopoint questions. All questions have
the option of being required and all have a label section. Another feature is
the set rule button. This may be attached to certain questions, so if a
participant answers the question a specific way another question, related to
the one they just answered will appear. The tutorial prompted learners to
create more questions, until about 23 were created. A survey can have as many
questions as needed to fulfill the specific task at hand.
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| Figure 3. Creating questions using the "add" tool in Survey 123. |
The next step of the tutorial was
to complete some surveys, in order to see how the flow of the survey was and to
start collecting some data. Before completing some surveys, one needs to open
the survey to the public or to the desired population of people. This can be
done by clicking on the survey’s thumbnail icon and then on the design tab. The
survey was then completed a few times using a web browser. The Survey 123 app
was then prompted to be downloaded and the survey completed another five or so
times on the smartphone device (Figure 4 and Figure 5).
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| Figure 4. Completing the HOA Emergency Preparedness Survey on an Android device. |
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| Figure 5. The interactive map on the Survey 123 app, that allows participants to provide their residence information. |
The next step in the tutorial is
the analysis of the data. On the Survey 123 website the surveys thumbnail icon
can be selected again. The overview page, is a quite way to see the initial
results of the data collected ( Figure 6). Here one can see the number of
completed surveys, the number of participates, and the dates the surveys were
submitted on. The analyze tab shows the results for each question in a variety
of graphs. On the data tab all of the surveys are shown in an interactive map
(Figure 7). This way you can compare the results of each survey easily to the
area of where the participant lives.
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| Figure 6. The overview page on the survey 123 website. This overview gives the creator of the survey to see how many people haven taken the survey and much more. |
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| Figure 7. The "Data" tab on the Survey 123 website. This is an interactive map that allows on to analyze the data collected from the survey. The red dots located on the map represent the housing location of the participants of the survey. |
Results
Since this was just a tutorial, all
of the completed surveys were completed by me with made up information. The
results can still be analyzed. An equal number of participated ( 4 each) live
in a single family or multi-family home with one participant responding other. The
age of the houses varies from the 1970’s to the mid-2000’s. The number of
people living in a residence varied from 3 to 9. The average age of people
living in these households was 18-60 years of age. A majority of the participants
didn’t have TVs and computers secured to the wall. If they were secured the
material varied. More of an equal amount of participants had bookshelves
secured and an overwhelming amount had cabinets secured. A majority of
participants had the doorways free of obstruction and had functioning smoke detectors
and fire extinguishers present in the home. Even though this data is
fabricated, the value of the analyze and data tabs is prevalent.
Conclusion
Survey 123
is a way to collect field data using a smartphone or other portal device. I
have had experience with summer internships that required the completion of
surveys while in the field. This Survey 123 app is very similar to the programs
used during my summer internships, but I think this may be a simpler way to
complete some of those surveys. This could be used in my future research
dealing with samples taken from roadcuts. If the survey was filled out in the
field, then the data would be easily made into maps with ArcGIS and more
accurate data would be created.
References
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