PDF, 1536K - Measure DHS

The Men’s Questionnaire collected information on the male respondent’s background
characteristics, reproduction, contraceptive knowledge and use, marriage, fertility preferences and
attitudes about family planning, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS and STIs.
A.8 DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING
A management committee was established and chaired by the CSA to oversee the performance
and activities of the Ethiopia DHS. The committee was made up of representatives from the Ministry of
Health, the National Office of Population, USAID, UNFPA, UNICEF and ORC Macro.
Training for the main survey was conducted in January 2000 in Addis Ababa. A total of 312
interviewers participated in the training. They were recruited for their language skills, academic
qualifications, and previous survey work experience. Due to the large number of candidates needed for
fieldwork, interviewers were split up into six groups and were trained simultaneously by senior staff of
the CSA. The four-week training consisted of instruction in general interviewing techniques and field
procedures for the survey, a detailed review of the questionnaires, practice in weighing and measuring
children, mock interviews between participants in the classroom, and practice interviews in the field.
In addition, special lectures were given on family planning and the various methods used in Ethiopia,
and on HIV/AIDS. A final selection of interviewers, editors, and supervisors was made based on their
performance during the training. A total of 38 teams were constituted, each made up of four female
interviewers, one male interviewer, one female editor and a male team supervisor.
In order to maintain uniform survey procedures, four manuals relating to different aspects of the
survey were prepared. The Interviewer’s Manual discussed the objectives of the Ethiopia DHS,
interviewing techniques, field procedures, general procedures for completing the questionnaires, and
included a detailed discussion of the Household and Individual Questionnaires. The manual also
contained information on how to weigh and measure women and children. The Supervisor’s and Editor’s
Manual contained instructions on organizing and supervising fieldwork, maintaining and monitoring
control sheets, and general rules for editing completed questionnaires and maintaining data quality.
Trainers were given the Training Guidelines for DHS Surveys Manual, which described the administrative
and logistical aspects of training and data quality checks. The Household Listing Manual described the
mapping and household listing procedures used in DHS surveys.
The main fieldwork started in early February 2000 and lasted until the end of May 2000. All
callbacks and reinterviews were completed by mid-June 2000. Throughout the survey, senior staff of
CSA, both from the central office and regional offices, and consultants from ORC Macro, maintained
constant contact with the teams through direct communication and spot checking. To ensure high data
quality, teams were closely supervised through field visits, observation of interviews, and checking of
completed questionnaires. Data quality was also ensured by providing feedback to individual teams on
the results of the field check tables. These tables were computer generated at regular intervals from data
obtained in the completed questionnaires. These results were discussed with the teams to improve their
performance.
The completed questionnaires were returned to the Central Statistical Authority head office in
Addis Ababa for data processing. The office editing staff first checked that questionnaires for all selected
households and eligible respondents had been received from the field. In addition, the few questions
that had not been precoded (e.g., occupation, ethnicity, contraceptive brand) were coded at this time.
The data were then entered and edited using microcomputers and the Integrated System for Survey
Analysis (ISSA) program developed for DHS surveys. Office editing and data processing activities were
initiated soon after the beginning of fieldwork and were completed by the end of June 2000.
184 * Appendix A