1. Assuring good field work Juan Muñoz

2. What happens when fieldwork is poor? A long and frustrating process of “data cleaning” becomes unavoidable The data loose their policy-making relevance Data quality is not guaranteed The process converges (at best) to databases that are internally consistent The process entails a myriad of decisions, generally undocumented Users mistrust the data

3. Key factors Manage the survey as an integrated project Implement the team concept in the organization of field operations Integrate computer-based quality controls to field operations Establish strong supervision procedures Ensure sufficient training Work with a reduced staff over an extended period of data collection

4. Management levels Core staff –Survey manager –Field operations manager –Data manager Tactical options for the organization of field teams –Mobile teams with fixed data entry –Mobile teams with integrated data entry –Sometime in the future: the paperless interview

5. Mobile teams with fixed data entry Cote d’Ivoire (1984) Peru (1985) Ghana Pakistan Guinea-Conakry Mozambique Iraq (2006)

6. Composition of a field team SupervisorInterviewers Anthropo -metrist Data entry operator

7. The team and its tools SupervisorInterviewers Data entry operator Anthropo- metrist

8. Two PSUs visited in a four- week period AlamaBamako Regional Office

9. First week AlamaBamako Regional Office Operator remains in Regional Office Rest of the team travels to Alama They complete first half of questionnaires in all selected households

10. Second week AlamaBamako Regional Office Operator enters first week data from Alama Rest of the team travels to Bamako They complete first half of questionnaires in all selected households

11. Second week AlamaBamako Regional Office Supervisor gives Bamako questionnaires to DEO. DEO gives back Alama questionnaires with flagged inconsistencies Rest of the team travels to Bamako and back

12. Third week AlamaBamako Regional Office Operator enters first week data from Bamako Team completes second half of questionnaires. They correct inconsistencies from first half

13. Fourth week AlamaBamako Regional Office Operator enters second week data from Alama. Corrects inconsistencies from first round Team completes second half of questionnaires. They correct inconsistencies from first half

14. Fourth week Regional Office The result is a clean data set on diskette, ready for analysis immediately after data collection

15. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Nepal (1992 and 2001) Argentina Paraguay Bangladesh (2000)

16. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Regional Office Alama Bamako Cocody Team works with portable computers and printers

17. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Regional Office Alama Bamako Cocody Operator travels with the rest of the field team

18. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Regional Office Alama Bamako Cocody Data entry and validation almost immediate

19. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Regional Office Alama Bamako Cocody Reduced trips to and from Regional Office to selected PSUs

20. Mobile teams with integrated data entry Regional Office Alama Bamako Cocody

21. Benefits of integration Provides reliable and timely databases Provides immediate feedback on the performance of the field staff, allowing early detection of inadequate behaviors Ensures that all field staff applies uniform criteria throughout the full period of data collection Solves inconsistencies through direct verification of households reality, rather that through office guessing Is consistent with the total quality culture

22. Selecting and training field staff Why is it important How long does it take How is it organized

23. Example: Day 2 of interviewer training Definition of household (and dwelling, family, etc.) Pictorial of a sample household Slide with an empty roster (explain case conventions, encodings, skip patterns, etc.) Fill the roster for the sample household (need for legible handwriting, recording of ages, use of a calendar of events, etc.) Role playing (trainer as a respondent, simulating borderline cases) Role playing (trainees interview each other)

24. The role of the team supervisor Manager/administrator ("traditional" role) –Monitor completion of work –Collecting and accounting for all of the questionnaires –Paying interviewers/managing the fuel budget –Administrative functions –Sometime interviewer Quality control –Continuous training of interviewers –Random quality checks in the field

25. Supervision tasks Verification of questionnaires for completeness –Completion of household roster & ID of members –Completion of all sections for all individuals –Limited internal consistency Random re-interviews of households Observation of interviews Observation of anthropometrics Supervision of data entry

26. The paperless interview (CAPI) The option of the future Is used successfully by some statistical agencies for simple surveys (LFS and CPI price collection) Recent experiments have shown that –Technology is already available (Lightweight notebooks and software development platform – both Windows based) –Can be cost-effective –No negative serious externalities We still need to solve: –Questionnaire design –Ergonomic aspects of the interview –Interviewer training –Development of supervision procedures adapted to the new technology (voice recording, use of GPS’s, etc.)

27. Each cluster (6 households) visited by one interviewer in a 20- day period (a wave) Each household records food expenses in a diary for 10 days The interviewer visits each household seven times, before during and after the 10-day diary recording period During these visits, the interviewer –Helps with diary recording –Asks different questionnaire modules (education, heath, labor, etc.) –Checks for inconsistencies in the data collected in previous visits Case study: The IHSES Iraq Household Socio-Economic Survey Presenter: Shwan J Fatah – Sulaimania, KRG Stat Office

28. This was possible by organizing the field workers into teams, composed of –One supervisor –Three interviewers –One data entry operator Data was entered and checked in between interviewer visits Fieldwork concluded in January 2008 A database is already available Preliminary outputs expected in March 2008 Case study: The IHSES Iraq Household Socio-Economic Survey (continued)