PARI researcher Thomas Daum (University of Hohenheim) together with Hannes Buchwald (University of Media, Stuttgart) received a prize awareded by Initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” and the Deutsche Bank for their App Time Tracker. The developed smartphone application allows researchers to obtain data faster and with higher accuracy than using conventional data collection methods.

The app was developed as part of the doctoral work of Thomas Daum (University of Hohenheim) with the help of Hannes Buchwald (University of Media, Stuttgart). The app allows farmers to record socioeconomic data such as data on time-use and nutrition intake in real time. This reduces the recall biases associated with the collection of recall data. The app is based on illustrations so that illiterate respondents can also record data. The app was used to collect 3000 days of data from farmers in Zambia with the aim to analyze the effects of agricultural mechanization on the allocation of intra-household time-use. According to the selection committee of the landmark 2018 prize, the selected landmarks are lighthouses of public spirit such that the laureates make the world a better place.