Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

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Using the data
collected to improve
HIV prevention efforts
There is no point collecting behavioral data unless they are used,
and used for the benefit of the people from whom they were collected.
Deciding how the data are to be used should be one of the early steps in
the planning process for BSS, as described in Chapter 2.
Waiting until after the data are collected to
decide how they will best be used may lead
to lost opportunities: pieces of information
that might prove particularly persuasive to key
decision-makers in a local context may simply
not get collected unless data use is planned
before data collection begins. Having said
that, it must also be recognized that information
that arises out of the data collection and
analysis process and that was not anticipated
may influence the final use of data in
unpredictable ways.
The various reasons for tracking behavior
were discussed at the start of this document
This chapter describes the particular uses to
which the data can be put, once collected and
analyzed. It also describes how data can be
packaged differently for different audiences,
and makes suggestions for data presentation.
B EHAV I OR A L S U R V EI L L A NC E SURV EY S CHAPTER 8
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