Hi Everyone! In this video we’ll learn how to deploy a KoboToolbox form on a mobile device and use it to collect data.
To follow this video, you’ll need an
internet connection, a Kobo account, a computer and an Android mobile phone or tablet that is running Android Operating System Version 6 or later.
We’ll start on your laptop: Login in to the Kobo website, open the form you want to use for data collection, go to the “Form” menu and click the “Deploy”
button. The message in the bottom left corner of the screen will let you know that the form was deployed successfully. Now scroll down to “Collect data” and
select the “Android Application” option from the list – these instructions will guide us on the mobile device.
Now let’s move to your mobile device. If this your first time using KoboCollect on this device, you’ll need to install the app from the Google Play store. Search for
“KoboCollect” and select install. Once it’s installed, open the KoboCollect app and select “allow” for the requested permissions. On the Main Menu screen click
on the Settings menu, which looks like 3 vertical dots, or may be accessed via the dedicated Settings button on some Samsung devices. Then select “General
Settings”, followed by “server”, followed by “URL”. Here you must enter the web address of the Kobo humanitarian response server, as shown:
https://www.kc.humanitarianresponse.info, and select “OK”. Now enter your Kobo username and password. When you’re done click the back button to return
to the main menu.
Now select “Get Blank Form”. You should get a message saying “Connecting to server”. Within 10 seconds or so, you will see a list of the forms deployed on your
KoboCollect account. Select the form you want to use, and then click “Get Selected”, and you should see a message informing you that the form has downloaded
successfully.
Remember that if you make further edits to your form on the Kobo website, you must re-deploy the form and then select “Get Blank Form” again on the mobile
device to synchronize with the most up-to-date form version.
You’re now ready to begin collecting data - and the rest of the data entry process can be done completely offline, without internet access.
Return to the main menu and click “Fill Blank Form”, choose the form you wish to use and the form will open. To go to the next question, swipe left on your
screen. To return to the previous question, swipe right. To save your progress click the Save button. To change language in multilingual forms, select the Settings
button and Change Language. To Exit the form, select the back button and choose whether to save or ignore changes. When you reach the end of the form and
are ready to complete it, select “Mark as finalized”, and Save Form and Exit. Your form is now saved on the local memory of your device. You can save a virtually
unlimited number of forms this way, but beware: you can lose your data if the device is damaged or destroyed. To complete the data submission process you
must now reconnect your device to the internet and select “Send Finalized Form” on the main menu. On slow internet connections, there may be a short delay
in sending the data to the Kobo server.
On your laptop, return to the Kobo website and refresh the page, you should now see the Data menu, where you can view and edit data submissions, and
download it for analysis. If you are managing a team of data collectors, Kobo will automatically collate form submissions from each their mobile devices into one
table, as long as they are using the same form on all devices, installed with the same username and password. And that’s how to collect data on a mobile device
with Kobo Toolbox.
