Self-reporting in rural areas is next to an impossible task due to the far distance needed to travel to hospitals or schools. Researchers have found smartphone improves rural self-reporting, which has the potential to transform the data collection process.

"Our research shows that we can deploy this technology to change the way we engage with rural communities, which can yield data that will improve management of government programs and enhance information available to policy makers," said Andrew Reid Bell, an assistant professor in New York University's Department of Environmental Studies and one of the paper's co-authors.

Studying a population of 500 people in 40 different villages in Bangladesh, researchers distributed short surveys about income, spending and school attendance. Through the smartphone, participants are able to answer questions with the push of a button. This information is then sent to a database for easy access by researchers in the hopes of gauging the top priories of the population and aid individuals as needed.

Results showed that participants who used the smartphone were more likely to report on topics in more detail, showing signs of distress earlier than other groups. The most notable early intervention came with illness, where the engaged participants were able to report their symptoms leading to earlier intervention.

"These results make clear that traditional approaches to surveying may miss patterns of variation across the year, or smaller events that lose significance to the respondent over time," said Mary Killilea, an associate clinical professor in NYU's departments of Environmental Studies and Biology.