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Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality.

ABSTRACT: Generating a nationally representative sample in low and middle income countries typically requires resource-intensive household level sampling with door-to-door data collection. High mobile phone penetration rates in developing countries provide new opportunities for alternative sampling and data collection methods, but there is limited information about response rates and sample biases in coverage and nonresponse using these methods. We utilized data from an interactive voice response, random-digit dial, national mobile phone survey in Ghana to calculate standardized response rates and assess representativeness of the obtained sample.The survey methodology was piloted in two rounds of data collection. The final survey included 18 demographic, media exposure, and health behavior questions. Call outcomes and response rates were calculated according to the American Association of Public Opinion Research guidelines. Sample characteristics, productivity, and costs per interview were calculated. Representativeness was assessed by comparing data to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and the National Population and Housing Census.The survey was fielded during a 27-day period in February-March 2017. There were 9,469 completed interviews and 3,547 partial interviews. Response, cooperation, refusal, and contact rates were 31%, 81%, 7%, and 39% respectively. Twenty-three calls were dialed to produce an eligible contact: nonresponse was substantial due to the automated calling system and dialing of many unassigned or non-working numbers. Younger, urban, better educated, and male respondents were overrepresented in the sample.The innovative mobile phone data collection methodology yielded a large sample in a relatively short period. Response rates were comparable to other surveys, although substantial coverage bias resulted from fewer women, rural, and older residents completing the mobile phone survey in comparison to household surveys. Random digit dialing of mobile phones offers promise for future data collection in Ghana and may be suitable for other developing countries.

SUBMITTER: L'Engle K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5774708 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality.

L'Engle Kelly K Sefa Eunice E Adimazoya Edward Akolgo EA Yartey Emmanuel E Lenzi Rachel R Tarpo Cindy C Heward-Mills Nii Lante NL Lew Katherine K Ampeh Yvonne Y

PloS one 20180119 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>Generating a nationally representative sample in low and middle income countries typically requires resource-intensive household level sampling with door-to-door data collection. High mobile phone penetration rates in developing countries provide new opportunities for alternative sampling and data collection methods, but there is limited information about response rates and sample biases in coverage and nonresponse using these methods. We utilized data from an interactive vo ...[more]

PMID: 29351349

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Mobile phone call detail records (CDRs) are increasingly being used in health research. The location element in CDRs is used in various health geographic studies, for example, to track population movement and infectious disease transmission. Vast volumes of CDRs are held by multinational organizations, which may make them available for research under various data governance regimes. However, there is an identified lack of public engagement on using CDRs for health research to contribute to an ethically founded framework. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to explore public views on the use of call detail records in health research. METHODS:Views on using CDRs in health research were gained via a series of three public workshops (N=61) informed by a pilot workshop of 25 people. The workshops included an initial questionnaire to gauge participants' prior views, discussion on health research using CDRs, and a final questionnaire to record workshop outcome views. The resulting data were analyzed for frequencies and emerging themes. RESULTS:At the outset, most participants (66%, 40/61) knew that location data were collected by operators, but only 3% (2/61) knew they were being used for health research. Initially, the majority of the participants (62%, 38/61) was content for their anonymous CDRs to be used, and this increased (80%, 49/61) after the discussion explained that safeguards were in place. Participants highlighted that terms and conditions should be clearer, as should information to phone users on data collection, privacy safeguards, sharing, and uses in research. CONCLUSIONS:This is the first known study exploring public views of using mobile phone CDRs in health research. It revealed a lack of knowledge among the public on uses of CDRs and indicated that people are generally amenable to the use of anonymized data for research, but they want to be properly informed and safeguarded. We recommend that public views be incorporated into an ethically founded framework for the use of CDRs in health research to promote awareness and social acceptability in data use.

Project description:BackgroundCall detail records (CDRs) are collected by mobile network operators in the course of providing their service. CDRs are increasingly being used in research along with other forms of big data and represent an emerging data type with potential for public good. Many jurisdictions have infrastructures for health data research that could benefit from the integration of CDRs with health data.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to review how CDRs have been used in health research and to identify challenges and potential opportunities for their wider use in conjunction with health data.MethodsA literature review was conducted using structured search terms making use of major search engines. Initially, 4066 items were identified. Following screening, 46 full text articles were included in the qualitative synthesis. Information extracted included research topic area, population of study, datasets used, information governance and ethical considerations, study findings, and data limitations.ResultsThe majority of published studies were focused on low-income and middle-income countries. Making use of the location element in CDRs, studies often modeled the transmission of infectious diseases or estimated population movement following natural disasters with a view to implementing interventions. CDRs were used in anonymized or aggregated form, and the process of gaining regulatory approvals varied with data provider and by jurisdiction. None included public views on the use of CDRs in health research.ConclusionsDespite various challenges and limitations, anonymized mobile phone CDRs have been used successfully in health research. The use of aggregated data is a safeguard but also a further limitation. Greater opportunities could be gained if validated anonymized CDRs were integrated with routine health records at an individual level, provided that permissions and safeguards could be put in place. Further work is needed, including gaining public views, to develop an ethically founded framework for the use of CDRs in health research.

Project description:Background: Accurate self-report of sexual behavior assists in identifying potential HIV exposure in HIV prevention trials. Brief mobile phone assessments, completed daily or after sexual activity, can improve the validity and reliability of self-reported sexual behavior and allow for remote survey completion outside of the clinic setting. We conducted a qualitative study to better understand participants mobile phone use and to explore their perspectives on how to improve an existing mobile application-based sexual risk assessment. Methods: Sexually active, HIV seronegative men (n = 14) and women (n = 15) aged 18-39 years were recruited through an HIV counseling and testing clinic and community outreach in Soweto, South Africa. We conducted qualitative research through four age-stratified focus group discussions (FGDs) and analyzed a brief socio-demographics and mobile phone access questionnaire. All participants completed a sexual risk assessment before the FGD. Using a framework analytic approach, data were coded with Nvivo software. Results: All participants had access to mobile phones and internet, and 27 (93.1%) were able to download applications on their personal phones. Participants preferred mobile risk assessments to be offered in a choice of South African languages, using formal language (as opposed to emojis), with straight-forward wording and limited to five to 10 questions. Most participants found it acceptable to complete the assessment once a week, on a weekday, while a few were willing to complete it after each sexual encounter. It was suggested that a message reminder to complete the assessment should be sent at least daily until it is completed. The majority agreed that a password-protected application with a discreet logo was ideal for privacy, ease of use and flexibility for completion in any setting. A concern with this format, however, was the potential data use requirement. Participants expressed privacy concerns with using SMS, WhatsApp and other social media for risk assessments. Most agreed on an airtime incentive between ZAR5-10 (USD 0.29-0.58) per survey. Participants encouraged researchers to provide feedback to them about their sexual risk. Conclusions: Completion of mobile phone sexual risk assessments can be optimized with minimal incentives by ensuring that questionnaires are simple, brief, infrequent and have trusted privacy measures.

Project description:Cognitive biases refer to automatic attentional and interpretational tendencies, which could be retained by cognitive bias modification interventions. Cristea et al and Jones et al have published reviews (in 2016 and 2017 respectively) on the effectiveness of such interventions. The advancement of technologies such as electronic health (eHealth) and mobile health (mHealth) has led to them being harnessed for the delivery of cognitive bias modification. To date, at least eight studies have demonstrated the feasibility of mobile technologies for the delivery of cognitive bias modification. Most of the studies are limited to a description of the conventional cognitive bias modification methodology that has been adopted. None of the studies shared the developmental process for the methodology involved, such that future studies could adopt it in the cost-effective replication of such interventions.It is important to have a common platform that could facilitate the design and customization of cognitive bias modification interventions for a variety of psychiatric and addictive disorders. It is the aim of the current research protocol to describe the design of a research platform that allows for customization of cognitive bias modification interventions for addictive disorders.A multidisciplinary team of 2 addiction psychiatrists, a psychologist with expertise in cognitive bias modification, and a computer engineer, were involved in the development of the intervention. The proposed platform would comprise of a mobile phone version of the cognitive bias task which is controlled by a server that could customize the algorithm for the tasks and collate the reaction-time data in realtime. The server would also allow the researcher to program the specific set of images that will be present in the task. The mobile phone app would synchronize with the backend server in real-time. An open-sourced cross-platform gaming software from React Native was used in the current development.Multimedia Appendix 1 contains a video demonstrating the operation of the app, as well as a sample dataset of the reaction times (used for the computation of attentional biases) captured by the app.The current design can be utilized for cognitive bias modification across a spectrum of disorders and is not limited to one disorder. It will be of value for future research to utilize the above platform and compare the efficacy of mHealth approaches, such as the one described in this study, with conventional Web-based approaches in the delivery of attentional bias modification interventions.RR1-10.2196/9740.

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Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality.

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Survey research with a random digit dial national mobile phone sample in Ghana: Methods and sample quality.

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