The DHS Program

Fieldwork-Related Factors and Data Quality in the Demographic and Health Surveys Program (English) 

Document Type

Analytical Studies

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Johnson, Kiersten, Monica Grant, Shane Khan, Zhuzhi Moore, Avril Armstrong, and Zhihong Sa. 2009. Fieldwork-Related Factors and Data Quality in the Demographic and Health Surveys Program. DHS Analytical Studies No. 19. Calverton, Maryland, USA: ICF Macro.

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Publication Date

September 2009

Publication ID

AS19

Abstract:

The purpose of this report is to describe the association between fieldwork-related factors and the quality of the data collected in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. Broadly, the findings of this report confirm expectations: fieldwork in rural areas is often subject to more data quality concerns, and care must be taken to ensure that language does not pose a barrier to the collection of high-quality data. More specifically, the results provide opportunities for individual countries to examine the results in light of their field practices and make adjustments as needed for future DHS surveys. General recommendations derived from these results are already standard practice in the DHS surveys:(1) All due emphasis should be placed on hiring interviewers based on their knowledge of local languages, proportional to the distribution of languages among clusters.(2) Ensuring that questionnaires are translated into as many local languages as practicable is likely to be a useful step toward improving data quality.(3) The beginning and end of the fieldwork period may be particularly sensitive times, as interviewers are first learning the practice in the beginning and, toward the end of fieldwork, may be fatigued and want to go back to their families. These realities call for increased, careful supervision of fieldwork during these sensitive periods, with an eye to ensuring that fieldworkers have the support that they need to do their job well.