In the early 1990s, Sistemas Integrales designed a data-entry platform which proved greatly popular and was used in hundreds of household surveys around the world. Given the platform’s success, updated versions have extended functionality in accord with overall technological advances.In the early 1990s, Sistemas Integrales designed a data-entry platform which proved greatly popular and was used in hundreds of household surveys around the world. Given the platform’s success, updated versions have extended functionality in accord with overall technological advances.

A 2010 release, “LSD-2010”:

• Performs the full range of data quality checks, from the simplest range-check to the most complex consistency controls such as budget balances and nutritional evaluations. It can also support supervision based on the random selection of respondents and questions.

• Provides the unique benefit of following not only the logic of the paper questionnaire but also its visual design. In other words, what the operator sees on the forms is the same as what s/he sees on the screen.

• This reduces training time and means that the data can be entered by nonspecialists, often the interviewers themselves. Field teams can thus correct any flagged inconsistencies by reinterviewing before they move on to their next location.

• Is fully integrated with automatic data transmission programs which are available as free downloads, so that data that have been entered in the field can easily be sent to a central server for further processing.

The most recent release builds on the success of earlier versions and increases its capacity. For example:

• A touch-screen option aids usability of CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing) applications.

• It is also easily adapted for CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) surveys, as it was in the Youth Employment impact evaluation in the Dominican Republic.