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Electronic versus paper-based data collection for conducting health-care research: A cost-comparison analysis
- Source :
- Indian Journal of Public Health, Vol 66, Iss 4, Pp 443-447 (2022)
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Background: Containing expenditure and efficient resource use is essential to limit the increasing costs of health research. Electronic data collection (EDC) is thought to reduce the costs compared to paper-based data collection (PDC). Objectives: As economic evidence in this area is scanty, especially in low- and middle-income countries, the objectives of the study are to perform an economic evaluation and compare the cost between EDC and PDC. Methods: A cost-comparison study was conducted to compare between EDC and PDC from the institutional perspective for the year 2018, based on a community-based survey. Step-down cost accounting was adopted with a bottom-up approach for cost estimation. Total and unit costs were estimated with the base case comparison between EDC and PDC while using SPSS software (e-SPSS and p-SPSS, respectively). We conducted scenario analyses based on the usage of different software, R and STATA for both EDC and PDC (e-R, p-R, e-STATA, and p-STATA, respectively). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) was performed to examine the robustness of the observed results. Results: In the base-case analysis, total costs of EDC and PDC were ₹72,617 ($1060.9) and 87,717 ($1281.5), respectively, with estimated cost reduction of ₹15,100 ($220.6). In other scenarios, the estimated cost reduction for e-R, e-STATA, p-R, p-STATA was ₹−274 ($4.0), 98 ($1.4), 14826 ($216.6), and 15,002 ($219.2), respectively, when compared to EDC-SPSS. On one-way and PSA, the results of the cost-comparison analysis were robust. Conclusion: EDC minimizes institutional cost for conducting health research. This finding will help researchers in efficiently planning for the budget for their research.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0019557X
- Volume :
- 66
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Indian Journal of Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.853064fd35d74c41aae280787bc63bc9
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.ijph_1271_21