Data Collection Systems

Every business, association, non-profit organization and project has one thing in common: they only perform as well as the data available to them. The web makes it possible to collect all sorts of information easily, but it does not ensure the quality of the data you collect. We work with you to identify what data you should be collecting, and how to make the people supplying it invested in its quality.

When we build data systems, we adhere to four simple, common sense rules:

Make it painless. Do your best to make it as easy as possible for your users to provide you with information. For example, if they provide you with key data (identification codes, perhaps), can you grab additional data from other sources? Is there a (relatively) standard format that your users could just upload, instead of having to re-input into web forms? Adding a little bit more effort on the back-end to save your users work on the front end can pay huge dividends.
Explain yourself. If users understand why you are asking for information, and what you plan on doing with it, they'll feel better about providing it to you. Ignorance breeds resentment, which greatly undercuts the reliability of the data you will collect.
Protect privacy. Take every precaution to protect any sensitive data you are collecting. Use security certificates when transmitting it. Encrypt it in your database when possible. Let your users know what you're doing to keep it safe. Above all else, if you don't really need it, don't ask for it.
Don't ask for data; provide a tool. If you want to get your users to really care about the data they are providing, make it useful to them. Would they benefit from having access to a reporting system for the eventual data set? Could you develop a tool that helps them manage the information on a day-to-day basis, so that your data collection feels organic and seamless? Nothing improves your data collection efforts more than making it in your users' self-interest to improve your data collection effort!