Once you have created a form in Kobo Toolbox and are satisfied with the settings, you are now ready to start collecting data using the form. Data can be collected directly from the web using a link that is shared with the intended respondents, or it can be collected using mobile phones through Kobo Collect.
Kobo Collect is the mobile application version of Kobo Toolbox, which allows researchers to collect data using their mobile phones. Kobo Collect is only available for Android users. In this post, I illustrate and discuss how to move a form from Kobo Toolbox to Kobo Collect.
Deploying the form
Before data can be collected using a form created in Kobo Toolbox, the owner must first deploy the form, as shown in the images below.
Open the Kobo Toolbox, click on the form you want to deploy.
From the form menu, click on deploy.
The form will now appear with the status “deployed” in the list of projects, and will now be ready to start receiving submissions from the form.
Downloading and configuring Kobo Collect
The first step is to register with kobotoolbox.org.
Both the owner of the form and the people receiving the form should register on the same server, “Global KoboToolbox Server.” If the owner and the recipients are on different servers, the owner will not be able to share a form with them.
The second step is to download the Kobo Collect application on your mobile phone device.
The third step is to configure the Kobo Collect app using the following steps:
- Open the Kobo Collect app
- Go to settings (three dots at the top right corner).
- Click on the server.
- In the URL section, put this URL: https://kc.kobotoolbox.org
- Put your username (the same one you used to create an account on Kobotoolbox)
- Lastly, put your password.
- Then click OK.
Once the Kobo Collect is properly configured, the respondent/data collector must share their username with the owner of the form to enable the owner share the project with him/her as discussed in the previous post.
The Kobo Collect app is now ready to start receiving forms.
In the next post, I will demonstrate how to collect data using the Kobo Collect mobile app.