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3.2 Definltlon of age group for the study
(a) The cross sectional morb~d~ty survey was llmlted to school ch~ldren between the
ages of 5 and 15 years slnce thls formed the school golng age group
(b) For assessing the health educat~onal and soclal status of the glrl ch~ld a cohort
was selected ~n the age group 5-20 years as per defin~t~on of the girl ch~ld by the
Nat~onal Workshop on the girl chlld (Mukherjee,l991)
(c) In order to f~nd out ~f there IS a gender dlscnmlnat~on ~n the att~tude of the parents
In glvlng health care to the~r ch~ldren, data was also collected from JIPMER hosp~tal
and Government Chest Cl~n~c Pond~cherry on ch~ldren up to 15 years of age
3.3 Methods of data collection
Both qualitatwe (ethnographic) and quantitative epidemiological methods were used for
data collection. All the methods used were pretested outside the study village.
3.3 .I Methods of ethnogf8phic study
(a) Key informant intervrew.
(b) Focus group discussions.
(c) In-depth intew~ews.
(d) Nonparticipant observation
(e) Case studies
(f) Structured questionnaire
The above six methods were the tools used to learn about the community's perception
and attitude towards some of the health, education and soc~al aspects of school age
children, especially that of the girl child. Out of these, the first three were the most
important tools used.