Tablet Hire and Technical Support

Tablets are increasingly being used by research companies like FG Connect for better data gathering and management and quicker analysis and porting. No matter in what form data is gathered during research, ultimately it needs to be fed into computers which means, your data needs to be digitised. If non-digital methods are used during research then the very same data will need to be manually entered and saved in digital format.

Enthusiastically promoting the use of tablets including Android tablets and iPads during research doesn’t mean we have completely abandoned pen and paper. It is just that, when you opt for tablets-based data collection, there are fewer errors and faster processing.

The benefit of using tablets is that the data is directly stored digitally and all one needs to do is, copy the data to computers and laptops once the research is done. Sometimes you don’t even need to copy the data; the data can be simply saved using an app on the tablet and then emailed to the concerned person.

Understandably, tablets in themselves cannot be directly used for research and data collection. You will need appropriate apps such as Nipo, SurveyToGo, ConfirmIT and other mainstream tablet apps that support various market research methods. These apps automatically embed functions like location tracking, click tracking, yes-no answers, audio samples as well as image and video processing. Since a large number of tasks can be automated, completely removing human interference, human errors are entirely eliminated. For example, if the respondent gives a “yes” response but the researcher by mistake enters a “no”, multiple instances of such mistakes can totally fudge your data, especially when thousands of respondents and consumers are involved. Sometimes the writing is illegible. No such problems if we hire Android tablets or iPads for your research.

Is it difficult to hire tablets and iPads in the UK, the USA and the UAE for research work?

There are many companies that give tablets and iPads for hire for research purposes or development purposes. The key is to know such companies and to be able to have a relationship with them so that you can get good deals when you hire tablets and iPads.

Once you have hired tablets or iPads, you will need to install the most suitable app for your research needs. Even after installing, the app will need to be customised according to your peculiar requirements. This needs experience and technical knowledge. Hence, along with hiring tablets you also need a technical team of researchers that can customise the needed apps as per your business requirements.

FG Connect can help you with hiring tablets for your project and also providing technical support

To help you get the best out of your market research campaign, we have a trained team of researchers and a tablet hire and technical support team to help you avoid the pitfalls and get the valuable data intact to you. Using tablets allows us to efficiently take care of the logistics as well as the research process. Even the respondents and participants find using tablets convenient compared to using pen and paper. Data about thousands of participants can be captured in a single Android tablet or an iPad. Videos and images can be captured in real time and instantly transferred to the company servers as a data safety measure. Compared to this, just imagine what a logistical nightmare it would be to carry around forms and responses in paper form. Big piles of registers and papers are needed. On the other hand, a tiny tablet can be easily carried around. Top-class research apps are available both Android tablets and iPads.

Our research team is not just fully trained to take good care of the tablets and the iPads they carry with them, they have also used the associated apps on multiple projects and hence, have enough experience to use the true power of these devices. They don’t need extra training. They can start working on your research project on day one after the initial consultation specific to your business needs.

When doing research with the help of tablets and iPads, we provide complete technical support to our research team. Although, as mentioned above, they have used tablets on multiple projects, sometimes technical problems arise and they need additional help. This help is immediately provided by our technical support so that your research project is not delayed. This is more so important when hundreds of tablets and iPads are involved in a citywide or a statewide market research project.

What type of tablets do we hire for individual research projects?

It depends on your preference, security needs and the app that you need to carry out the research and market study. We have both the options for you: Android tablets and iPads. Both have their pros and cons. iPads are a bit expensive and Android tablets are more prevalent and a wider selection of survey and research related apps are available.

Along with the right types of apps we will also ensure complete safety of your data. State-of-the-art encryption technology will be used when the data is being collected and transferred between different devices.

The process that we follow when we hire tablets and iPads for your research work

• Programming and customisation: An interface is needed to accept research data through the tablet and backend functions will be needed to save the data. Our in-house technical team can do the needed customisation or we can help you hire a team of programmers to create a full-fledged program if off-the-shelf mobile apps won’t do for you.
• Hosting of the survey: The tablets will be connected to the selected servers so that the data can be immediately transferred from the tablets to the servers and the needed routines and validation functions can be immediately accessed by the tablets from the server.
• Installation and downloading of the survey app: The fully customised survey app will be installed on individual tablets and the tablets will be readied for fieldwork.
• Post-completion data handling: The data will be transferred to the servers in real-time and based on your needs, it can also be processed and analysed in real time.

Benefits of hiring tablets for your research project

Data consistency and data integrity are among the biggest benefits of using tablets and iPads during research. Your app can be preprogrammed to avoid errors and repeat entries. Particular portions of your data can be immediately accessed by a simple search function. Since the data will be already entered in digital format, the errors that occur during the manual transfer of paper data to computers are totally eliminated. The data can be used within a couple of days compared to traditional forms when it may take weeks, or even months, to digitise data in a manner that it can be processed and analysed.