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Field ArticleS Sharif, T Shah (Eycon Solution), Pakistan, 2005S Sharif, T Shah (Eycon Solution), Pakistan, 2005S Sharif, T Shah (Eycon Solution), Pakistan, 2005S Sharif, T Shah (Eycon Solution), Pakistan, 2005A surveyor records details during the nutrition and health surveySurvey team trainingSurvey teamWeighing a child in a householdaffected populations were living in both campsand in communities, four cross sectional surveyswere conducted. In the NWFP, two separatesurveys were conducted, one among thoseliving in camps and the other in communitiesof Mansehra District which was one of themost affected districts. In the AJK a similarapproach was used with one survey conductedin camps and the other in communities ofMuzaffarabad District. Findings from thesefour surveys could then be used to providespecific information of the two populationsub-groups in the two distinct areas.Furthermore, the results could be used in tandemto determine quantitatively which populationsand/or area were more in need of specificservices when compared to others, therebyillustrating the overall health, nutrition andfood security situation. Although the exercisewas relatively more expensive and time consumingthan doing only one survey, it wasfound to provide essential information at alevel of detail that would have been impossibleif only one sampling frame had been usedto provide one overall estimate.Lesson 2: How much supervision is enough?An overarching and integral factor in all surveys,including this one, is the need for consistentand meticulous supervision.Unfortunately, due to the overwhelmingnature of the emergency, staff capacity waslimited and the survey coordinating team wasnot able to designate one supervisory personfor the full data collection, analysis and reportwriting. In the absence of oversight and supervisionby one fully responsible person, especiallyduring data collection period, the surveyteams relied on their individual team supervisorsand previous experience/knowledge.Hence, some of their initiatives deviated fromthe prescribed methodology and caused somecomplications during data analysis. Thoroughtraining followed by careful supervision of theoverall process by one responsible person orteam is a pre-requisite for a smooth and highquality assessment.Lesson 3: How do you place your clusters, andmust you go to all of them?When external circumstances dictate that certaingeographical areas are not accessible, andthe accessibility will not change over thecourse of the assessment, these areas and populationsshould be excluded from your initialsampling universe. They have a zero probabilityof selection and have no purpose in thesampling universe. When accessibility is fluid(such as during times of conflict or, more contextspecific, under the threat of landslides orsnow) it is recommended to keep those areasand populations in the sampling universe incase you might be able to reach them.Automatic exclusion of these areas may introducebias into the results. Therefore, if there issubstantial reason to believe that geographicareas may be unreachable, one potential solutionis to estimate the number of clusters inthese areas that may be unreachable. Thenincrease the overall number of clusters to beselected in order to ensure that the minimumrequired sample size is achieved (for example,selecting 33 clusters when you need 30 clustersbut think that you may not be able to reachthree.) Selecting more clusters based on theassumption that some may be unreachable is areasonable approach.The caveat for this sampling methodologyis that if 33 clusters are selected with the hopeof reaching at least 30, all accessible clustersmust be included in the final sample. Forexample, if 33 clusters are selected, and onlyone of the 33 clusters is inaccessible, it isimperative that all 32 accessible clusters areincluded in the sample and that data collectiondoes not stop with the first completed 30 clusters.Since the 33 clusters are selected usingPPS, intentionally excluding clusters when 30clusters have been sampled makes it a nonprobabilitysample, and therefore may lead tonon-representative results.In Muzaffarabad community and in theAJK camps it was decided that the risk of losingclusters was great enough to warrantselecting additional ones. In the context of thissurvey where 30 clusters were required for thedesired sample size, an additional three clusterswere selected to act as a protective buffer.This means, in effect, 33 clusters were selectedfrom the sampling universe using PPS and thefinal survey design was 33 clusters of 20households. The survey team began data collectionand, in Muzaffarabad, one cluster outof 33 was inaccessible while in the AJK campsit turned out that all clusters were accessible.The methodological problem occurred whenonce 30 clusters had been included in the sample,data collection stopped and the remaining3 clusters were excluded from the survey. Thisintentional exclusion had the potential ofA survey team arrive inMuzaffarabad camp.S Sharif, T Shah (Eycon Solution), Pakistan, 200527