Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2018 Feb 1;16(1):3.
doi: 10.1186/s12963-018-0161-9.

Collecting verbal autopsies: improving and streamlining data collection processes using electronic tablets

Abraham D Flaxman  1 , Andrea Stewart  2 , Jonathan C Joseph  2 , Nurul Alam  3 , Sayed Saidul Alam  3 , Hafizur Chowdhury  4 , Meghan D Mooney  2 , Rasika Rampatige  4 , Hazel Remolador  5 , Diozele Sanvictores  5 , Peter T Serina  2 , Peter Kim Streatfield  3 , Veronica Tallo  5 , Christopher J L Murray  2 , Bernardo Hernandez  2 , Alan D Lopez  4 , Ian Douglas Riley  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Collecting verbal autopsies: improving and streamlining data collection processes using electronic tablets

Abraham D Flaxman et al. Popul Health Metr. .

Abstract

Background: There is increasing interest in using verbal autopsy to produce nationally representative population-level estimates of causes of death. However, the burden of processing a large quantity of surveys collected with paper and pencil has been a barrier to scaling up verbal autopsy surveillance. Direct electronic data capture has been used in other large-scale surveys and can be used in verbal autopsy as well, to reduce time and cost of going from collected data to actionable information.

Methods: We collected verbal autopsy interviews using paper and pencil and using electronic tablets at two sites, and measured the cost and time required to process the surveys for analysis. From these cost and time data, we extrapolated costs associated with conducting large-scale surveillance with verbal autopsy.

Results: We found that the median time between data collection and data entry for surveys collected on paper and pencil was approximately 3 months. For surveys collected on electronic tablets, this was less than 2 days. For small-scale surveys, we found that the upfront costs of purchasing electronic tablets was the primary cost and resulted in a higher total cost. For large-scale surveys, the costs associated with data entry exceeded the cost of the tablets, so electronic data capture provides both a quicker and cheaper method of data collection.

Conclusions: As countries increase verbal autopsy surveillance, it is important to consider the best way to design sustainable systems for data collection. Electronic data capture has the potential to greatly reduce the time and costs associated with data collection. For long-term, large-scale surveillance required by national vital statistical systems, electronic data capture reduces costs and allows data to be available sooner.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The methods of this study were approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee of the University of Queensland, Australia; the Institutional Review Board of the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, Philippines; and by the Ethical Review Committee of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. All data were collected with informed verbal consent from participants before beginning the interview. This method of consent was approved by the review boards at each site.

Consent for publication

We only reports aggregated statistics. No details, images, or videos relating to individual persons are published with this study.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of process for collecting VAIs comparing Electronic Data Capture with Paper-Based Collection
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
CONSORT diagram showing how errors in pencil-and-paper collected VAIs limit data usability
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Estimated cost for collecting a given number of VAIs (on a log scale) using different number of tablets or time constraint for data entry for Bangladesh and Philippines
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lopez AD, Setel PW. Better health intelligence: a new era for civil registration and vital statistics? BMC Med. 2015;13:73. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0333-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mahapatra P, Shibuya K, Lopez AD, Coullare F, Notzon FC, Rao C, et al. Civil registration systems and vital statistics: successes and missed opportunities. Lancet. 2007;370(9599):1653–1663. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61308-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. AbouZahr C, de Savigny D, Mikkelsen L, Setel PW, Lozano R, Nichols E, et al. Civil registration and vital statistics: progress in the data revolution for counting and accountability. Lancet. 2015;386(10001):1373–1385. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60173-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mikkelsen L, Phillips DE, AbouZahr C, Setel PW, de Savigny D, Lozano R, et al. A global assessment of civil registration and vital statistics systems: monitoring data quality and progress. Lancet. 2015;386(10001):1395–1406. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60171-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hill K, Lopez AD, Shibuya K, Jha P. Interim measures for meeting needs for health sector data: births, deaths, and causes of death. Lancet. 2007;370(9600):1726–1735. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61309-9. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types