By Abdul-Karim Fuseini – Oct. 28, 2024
This tutorial supports countries in integrating community-based knowledge into their Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) reporting and strengthening Decision Support Systems (DSS). It provides step-by-step guidance on using KoboToolbox and KoboCollect to design, deploy, and collect field data for LDN assessments.
By the end of this tutorial, users will have a fully functional, customized data collection system tailored to national LDN monitoring and SDG indicator 15.3.1 (Decision 9/COP.13).
Why a Digital Data Collection Tool?
- Efficiency and speed: Collect, organize, and analyze data in real time, reducing manual entry.
- Accuracy: Built-in checks minimize errors; GPS-enabled devices capture precise locations.
- Data security: Cloud-based storage ensures backups and minimizes risks of data loss.
- Customization: Tools can be adapted to project needs, including photos, audio, and multimedia.
KoboToolbox and KoboCollect
- KoboToolbox is a widely used, open-source platform for data collection, management, and visualization. It enables multilingual forms, project management, and offline/online data collection.
- KoboCollect is an Android app that allows users to collect field data and transfer it directly to KoboToolbox.
- Together, they support governments and partners in building efficient digital workflows for LDN monitoring.
What is an XLSForm?
- XLSForm is a form standard designed to make form creation easier by using Microsoft Excel.
- Forms are authored in a format that is easy to understand, using familiar tools like Excel or Google Sheets.
Basic XLS form format
The Excel form has basically 2 main worksheets:
- survey: The survey sheet contains all the survey questions, type of questions, label, and other attributes that the Kobotoolbox can read. Example: What type of land degradation? What is the level of degradation?
- choices: The choices sheet contains ‘options’ that will be used for single or multiple-choice questions from the survey sheet. Example: Select the type of degradation: Soil erosion, Wind erosion e.t.c
The survey sheet
The survey worksheet has 3 essential columns: type, name, and label.
- The type column specifies the type of data entry.
- The name column specifies the unique variable name for that entry.
Some rules for the name column:
- Each naming must be unique; No duplicates and are case-sensitive.
- Names can start with a letter or an underscore (a-z, _)
- Names can only contain letters, digits, hyphens, underscores, and periods.
- The label column contains the text to be displayed on the form. This text can also be translated to different languages.
The choices sheet
The choices worksheet contains 3 essential columns: list_name, name, and label.
- The list_name column allows the user to group together a set of related options.
- While both name and label columns are similar to the survey sheet.
Question types
Some more question types:
Next Steps
For hands-on practice, refer to the video tutorials linked here. These provide a full demonstration of setting up forms, deploying surveys, and collecting data.
By applying this tutorial, users will be able to build customized digital workflows to support LDN reporting and SDG 15.3.1 monitoring.
