App Collector
You can download the app by going to the Google Play Store. Search for ‘Sprockler’ and download the app.
NOTE: The app is currently only available on Android devices. The app does not work on tablets or phones that use an IoS system. In 2020 a IoS app will be launched. Stay tuned!
On the app you can run several inquiries at once. Once installed, it can work fully offline. This means that you can collect stories and data anywhere in the world, and are not depending on the availability or quality of your internet connection. You only need an Internet connection if you have changed something in your inquiry and want to download the new version or to submit responses back to the server when you start visualising your results.
Once the App is downloaded to your device, it offers the following:
Menu
At the top left hand you can find the menu, which includes:
Inquiry
User profile
Language
Settings
About
2. Inquiry Under the ‘Inquiry’ you can find all the inquiries you have on your App (same as initial screen).
3. User profile Under the ‘User profile’ you can see which of your answers are saved on your App. Some of your answers are saved only if the question was designed so. It means that when you get a question that was designed to save your answer, you will never receive the same question again. For example, this is useful for the questions like ‘When were you born?’ with the answer list like ‘a) Before 1950’s; b) Between 1950 and 1970; c) Between 1970 and 1990, etc. Answers to such questions will never change, so your response is saved and you will never receive the same question from the same organisation.
4. Language Under the ‘Language’ menu you can change the language of the App. The App only shows the languages are supported by one of the downloaded inquiries or Android's system language (if supported by the App).
5. Settings Under the ‘Settings’ menu you can choose to use mobile data to connect to the Internet when you do not have free access. In case you want to add large files like videos as your responses but have a limit on your mobile data, you can tick the second box (see screenshot), and only the actual responses will be uploaded (text, selected options, very small files, etc.). Videos, photos and other large files will be uploaded only when you connect to the Wi-Fi.
6. About Finally, under the ‘About’ section you can see our short introduction as well as our contact details.
To download a new inquiry, tap on the ‘+’ icon at the bottom of the initial screen (‘Inquiry’ menu), enter the code you that have received by email or that you got from the Designer. The testing mode will already be available but the Personal and Interviewer mode will only be available after sealing them. The Designer provides you with two codes, one for Personal and one for Interviewer mode. Enter the one you want to use. The codes can be found in the Designer under the tab ‘Publication’ and on the first page of the inquiry if you have finished it.
For example, you could have a picture similar to the one on the left. In this case, the code ‘33eb2c’ is the one you should enter on your device if you want to download the Personal mode. You go to your app and press ‘+’ to add a new inquiry. Your phone will ask you for a code and depending on whether you want Testing/Personal/Interviewer mode you enter this code. If you want people to fill in this inquiry you can send them the personal codes by email, for example.
It is possible to record the answers to the options questions as audio rather than typing them. If you have selected the option to record audio responses when designing your inquiry, the audio button automatically becomes visible when filling in an inquiry. You can press audio and then start to start the recording. Once finished you can press stop and save the audio to continue. You can also listen to what you have recorded by pressing 'play'. It is also possible to add photos and pictures. It is also possible to include videos as responses. However this requires significant space available on your device, please contact us if you wish to use this feature.
When you finish answering the questions, you can simply complete and submit your responses or you can submit your responses and immediately share your second story if you desire so. However, first check the instructions of the organisation sending you the inquiry, as they might require only one story – it all depends on the purpose. On the other hand, this function is useful when used in the interviewer mode, as the interviewer can easily move on with the next respondent’s story without going back to the initial App screen.
For more actions, tap and hold on the inquiry on the initial screen and you can see the inquiry menu from which you can select the desired action.
By choosing ‘Start Over', you reset your unfinished responses and can start the inquiry again. This can be done only if your responses are not yet submitted.
Select ‘Submit Responses' to resubmit the responses that have been saved on your device to the server. For example, in the case described below of unstable Internet. A (stable) Internet connection is required for this step.
By choosing 'Delete', you delete the whole inquiry.
'Reset counter' makes the counter next to your inquiry start from 0 again.
Choosing 'Update', updates the inquiry to the latest version, for example when some changes to the inquiry have been made after you have downloaded the inquiry onto your device. When you click update you need to confirm the code of the inquiry you are updating on the next screen. A (stable) Internet connection is required for this step.
Info provides some information about the inquiry.
It is possible to use the app collector fully offline. You see a message with a progress of 100% once you have finished collecting one response on your tablet. In case you are not connected to the Internet at that point, the response is stored on your device. Usually, as soon as the phone is connected to a WiFi source, the responses that have been stored on the app during its offline use are send to the server. This is almost always done automatically. On rare occasions when the Internet connection is unstable when the app wants to send the stored responses to the server, this transfer is unsuccessful. The response remain stored on the app but are not send to the server. In this case you can manually send your responses from your device using the steps below.
You can check whether all responses have been sent to the server by looking at the bar beneath the name of the inquiry. In the menu on the app, you go to 'Inquiries' and check below the name of the inquiry.
If the bar is completely green, all responses saved on the device have been sent to the server. The number at the end of the bar indicates how many responses have been sent to the server and how many have been stored on the device. If the bar is not green, please do the following:
Connect to the Internet
Press and hold the title of the inquiry until a menu appears.
Select ’Submit responses’. The bar should now become green.