Have you heard about the Snap PDA module?
October 2004
The Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is perhaps the most convenient, cost-effective, cool-looking device for interviewing people in face to face surveys. Convenient because it is compact enough to be carried yet large enough to be practical for interviewing purposes, and cool because it's a gadget and, well, looks cool.
Using PDAs are cost-effective because not only do they save on paper costs, they also bypass the need for manual data entry. Results can be quickly compiled and input into a single Snap file for analysis.
Efficiency can also be improved using 'questionnaire routing' that can reduce interview time or allow more questions to be asked in a given period. And by using answer constraints, the data cleaning process can be greatly reduced.
On the coolness front, ditching the infamous clipboard and equipping interviewers with PDAs can significantly enhance their image. Armed with flash PDAs, interviewers suddenly become more approachable, professional and modern looking.
Snap software works with PDA surveys in much the same way as it works with paper and online surveys: efficiently and straightforwardly. The beauty of the software is its fluidity - Snap's ingenious interface and engine is designed to be adaptable to any method of survey delivery and collection.
The benefit for the user is the functionality for producing a PDA survey is as slick and comprehensive as it is for surveys on other formats.
In addition, the same survey can be delivered using both methods. Snap is designed to provide users with maximum freedom over how they conduct their surveys.
A few satisfied PDA users
Market research agency, Varga Research specializes in the Travel and Tourism industries. Varga use PDAs primarily for face to face field interviews in locations such as hotels, theme parks, restaurants and shopping areas.
Erik Varga, Information Systems Manager at Varga said, "We use PDAs for their simplicity. They are compact, lightweight, and professional looking and the batteries last all day.
"We use the Snap PDA module for both short (5 questions) and long surveys (over 100 questions) without any trouble. Whenever a new project is proposed, we always think of the PDAs first and Snap."
In the UK, Molly Duffy, a consultation officer at Wiltshire Constabulary recently used PDAs to conduct a survey at an exhibition. She said, "Setting up the survey was really easy and interviewing people was a lot of fun. People were interested in what we were doing and saw us as high-tech police!"
For more information contact your local sales office.
Independent guides to all things PDA-related:
www.pdasupport.com/Guides.htm
www.pdabuyersguide.com