cspro advantages

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AriSilva
Posts: 591
Joined: July 22nd, 2016, 3:55 pm

cspro advantages

Post by AriSilva »

Dear folks,
I have to write a small paper justifying the usage of CSPRO for census processing for a certain country, which has some limitations in accepting this technology (it does not come from the NSO. it comes from the government internal bureaucracy), questioning why they should use CSPRO instead of something else.
Could you guide me to any publications you might have that I could use to support the decision of using cspro?
Thanks
Ari
Best
Ari
htuser
Posts: 631
Joined: December 19th, 2011, 6:26 pm
Location: Silver Spring Area, MD, USA

Re: cspro advantages

Post by htuser »

Hi Ary,
Here's my first response. I'll continue to modify it by adding more references.

I already discussed with you about comparing CSPro to Survey Solutions. Since, CSPro erased almost all Survey Solutions advance, except for CAWI.
However, Since Survey Solutions take the ODK1 way (not based on a true and transparent programming language and a compiler), it can't improve itself to be competitive regarding to CSPro. So The future is for CSPro.

Regarding ODK, they decided to move to ODK2 (ODK-X) who's based on Javascript-HTML. This, because they conclude that no serious CAPI without strong programming. However, compare to ODK-X, CSPro is far more powerful, far more productive.
Until now, among others CSPro unique advance, no know free CAPI systems support SQL language or parse questionnaire data in a relational schema on device and on server.

Here's some formal comparison reports:
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curate ... ations.pdf
https://parstat.md/wp-content/uploads/2 ... db0&189db0

Please note that the World Bank is very old (a decade ago). More it concerned a defunct CSPro commercial version: CSPro-X from Serpro.

Asia Development Bank announced a CAPI software comparison studies. But, i don't have access to results. You can contact them directly for.
In the meantime, here's a report where you can gather somes informations : CSPro Vs Survey Solutions
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files ... urveys.pdf

Right now, the greatest weakness of CSPro is the lack of CAWI. But, it's a time question before having it, since the Developer Team already accept the principle. In the meantime, independent developer are trying to overcome this limitation. Please see and test this : https://github.com/parstat/cspro-cawi/

For a better report, i suggest you to wait for the next beta 7.7 with it's plentiful of new features such as map dashboard etc.

They way following by the CSPro Developer Team is the future. Among other possibilities, if Savy, the CSPro Chief, approve it, in the future CSPro can give NSO or any institutes a way to output standalone survey apps (Windows or Android) where they can use theirs names and logo...

Best,
G.VOLNY, a CSProuser from Haiti, since 2004
AriSilva
Posts: 591
Joined: July 22nd, 2016, 3:55 pm

Re: cspro advantages

Post by AriSilva »

Thank you very much for your lengthy answer, and I will pursue the links pointed out.
However, in this particular case, my concern was not specifically on the comparison SuSo x cspro, but to use Cspro in general, instead of the developing an in-house program.
There is no question on my mind that CsPro is THE solution, but the problem is that you have to keep saying that every time, no matter what. And sometimes to people outside IT, mainly bureaucrats that "heard" something about "open software" (instead of free software), or worse.
Best
Ari
Best
Ari
htuser
Posts: 631
Joined: December 19th, 2011, 6:26 pm
Location: Silver Spring Area, MD, USA

Re: cspro advantages

Post by htuser »

but the problem is that you have to keep saying that every time, no matter what. And sometimes to people outside IT, mainly bureaucrats that "heard" something about "open software" (instead of free software), or worse.
It's why i'm advocating for a way of using the CSPro in a more open way. For example, having a CSPro.wasm/CSPro.js library would allow using CSPro language engine and logic in some in house apps development using Blazor, React, Cordova, Node.js, Electron etc.
I understand very well that institutes would like to have apps with their own names and logos.

Best,
G.VOLNY, a CSProuser from Haiti, since 2004
aaronw
Posts: 561
Joined: June 9th, 2016, 9:38 am
Location: Washington, DC

Re: cspro advantages

Post by aaronw »

If I were to argue CSPro vs developing an in-house product I would emphasize reliability and price.

1) Reliability: CSPro has been used in 193 countries. By the end of the 2020 census round over 800 million people will have been counted using CSPro.

2) Price: The stakes are high in a national census and the product needs to be well written and tested. You pay for this in both time and money. CSPro reduces development time by allowing a statistical office to focus on the instrument from the get-go.

Imagine if 25% of the time that would be necessary to develop a new CAPI application was instead invested in testing and improving the instrument created in CSPro? I believe the end result would be a more robust solution that cost less and is more reliable.
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