# PART II — DESIGN THE DATASET

### 5. Choose Scripted vs Unscripted Collection

#### 5.1 Scripted Collection

Participants read prepared sentences.

##### a) Use scripted data when you need:

- Consistent text/audio pairs
- Controlled vocabulary
- Sentence-level alignment
- Clear transcription
- Specific words or phrases
- Named entities
- Domain-specific terminology

##### b) Advantages

- Fast to collect
- Easy to validate
- Predictable content
- Easy to align with text

##### c) Limitations

The reference report notes that scripted speech can omit natural speech phenomena such as:

- Fillers
- False starts
- Slang
- Code-switching
- Natural prosody
- Informal speech

It can also introduce bias toward formal language.

### 6. Unscripted Collection

Unscripted collection asks contributors to speak naturally in response to a prompt.

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 202, 250);">For example:</span>

<span style="color: rgb(132, 63, 161);">***“Describe what you normally do when you wake up in the morning.”***</span>

or:

<span style="color: rgb(132, 63, 161);">***“Tell us about a memorable journey you have taken.”***</span>

or:

*<span style="color: rgb(132, 63, 161);">**Show an image and ask the participant to describe what is happening.**</span>*

> The reference project used both text and image prompts to elicit spontaneous speech.

#### Advantages

Captures:

- Natural phrasing
- Accent
- Dialect
- Spontaneous speech
- Informal vocabulary
- Prosody
- Natural discourse

#### Challenges

Unscripted recordings require substantially more:

- Validation
- Transcription
- QA
- Prompt design
- Human review

The reference project therefore used a multi-level QA and transcription process for this data.

### 7. Decide Your Domains

Do not collect speech around one topic only.

The reference project used multiple domains, including:

- Agriculture and Food
- Everyday Scenarios
- Financial Transactions
- Digital Government Services
- Named Entity Recognition
- Role Play
- Extempore Stories
- Healthcare
- News and Media
- Education and Technology
- Customer Care

#### Create your own domain matrix

<div align="left" dir="ltr" id="bkmrk-domain-scripted-unsc"><table style="width: 71.0714%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 28.836%;" width="108"></col><col style="width: 19.5767%;" width="73"></col><col style="width: 24.3386%;" width="91"></col><col style="width: 27.5132%;" width="103"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td><p class="callout success">Domain</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">Scripted</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">Unscripted</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">Target hours</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Everyday life</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Agriculture</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">100</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Healthcare</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Education</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Government</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Stories</p>

</td><td> </td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Customer care</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">50</p>

</td></tr><tr><td><p class="callout success">Other</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">✓</p>

</td><td><p class="callout success">100</p>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

</div>The purpose is to expose the eventual model to varied vocabulary and contexts.

### 8. Develop Your Scripted Sentences

Your scripted sentences should not simply be random translations.

Build them from:

- Existing corpora
- Existing language resources
- Domain-specific material
- Locally generated sentences
- Carefully reviewed translations

The reference project combined existing corpora with translated and newly generated material.

#### Every sentence should be checked for:

- Naturalness
- Correct grammar
- Correct spelling
- Correct terminology
- Cultural appropriateness
- Dialect
- Names
- Places
- Numbers
- Dates
- Abbreviations

#### Important rule

Do not assume an English sentence can simply be translated word-for-word.

The reference project specifically encountered problems with polysemous words, inconsistent translations and concepts that lacked direct equivalents in some languages.

### 9. Develop Unscripted Prompts

Good prompts produce speech.

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 202, 250);">**Bad prompt:**</span>

##### “Do you like farming?”

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 202, 250);">Possible response:</span>

“Yes.”

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 202, 250);">Good prompt:</span>

“Tell us about the farming activities that people in your community usually do during the rainy season.”

This encourages a longer response.

#### Use several prompt types

#### a)Text prompts

A written question.

##### b) Image prompts

An image plus a question.

##### c) Story prompts

Ask participants to tell a story.

##### d) Scenario prompts

Ask participants to explain what they would do.

##### e) Role-play prompts

Example:

<p class="callout info">**“Imagine you are calling a customer-care agent because your mobile money transaction failed.”**</p>