How should I capture 'time on site' in survey123?

Question

Does anyone have a good way of capturing a length of time in Survey123?  In my scenario, field workers are asked to record the length of time that they spend at each site.  Time spent could range from 5 minutes to an entire day.  I have seen that there is a way to record the start and end time for filling out a survey, but in this case, those data points won't always capture the time spent on site.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

JamesTedrick · Answer

Hi Jessica,

You've covered most of the methods for entering time duration; the only other one I would suggest is that the create a form when they arrive on site, and submit it when they leave- you could then use the start and end question types to automatically record the times.

JessicaLarson1 · Answer

Start and end time are not capturing time on site because they often work for hours and at the end of the time working on the site they take 15 minutes to fill out their survey123 about what they did. They are not on site for 15 minutes. They are onsite for hours.

What I am looking for is the easiest way to get them to enter their time. I have considered hours (type decimal, enter data like 1.5, 3, .25), minutes (type integer, enter data as 90, 180, 15), or a start time and an end time with me doing the math in hidden calculation fields. I'm just wondering if anyone else has a better method.

Jessica Larson

JamesTedrick · Answer

Hi Jessica,

How is the start & end time not capturing the true representation of time on site?  Is it that there are breaks in work at site that need to be accounted for?  If that was case, you would need to have multiple submissions for each work stint (you could also have a repeated section in the log to record work stints, but the would require a manual setting of the stop work).