Survey ID Number
eth-phcco-dhs-2005-v1
Title
Demographic and Health Survey 2005, Ethiopia
Data Collection Notes
LISTING
After the selection of the 540 clusters throughout the 11 administrative areas, a listing operation in the selected clusters starting from the month of October 2004 was conducted. For this purpose, training was conducted for 46 listers who had been recruited from all the regions to do the listing of households and delineation of EAs. A manual that described the listing procedure was prepared as a guideline and the training was conducted using classroom demonstrations and field practices. Instructions were given on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) units to obtain locational coordinates for selected EAs. The listing was performed by organizing the listers into teams, with two listers per team. Seven field coordinators were also assigned from the head office to perform quality checks and handle all the administrative and financial issues of the listing staff. Supervision was carried out by the cartographic division of PHCCO to assess the quality of the field operation and the level of the accuracy of the GPS readings. Though the listing operation was aimed to be completed in three months, it was extended up to five months in some parts of the country, primarily because of a shortage of vehicles.
PRETEST
Prior to the start of the fieldwork, the questionnaires were pretested in all the three local languages, to make sure that the questions were clear and could be understood by the respondents. In order to conduct the pilot survey, 12 interviewers were recruited from the Amhara, Oromiya and Tigray regions. In addition to the new recruits, 14 senior staff members of PHCCO were trained for a period of three weeks to conduct the pilot fieldwork and serve as trainers for the main fieldwork. The pilot training which was conducted from January 24 to February 11, 2005, included training in blood sample collection for the anaemia and HIV testing. The pilot survey was conducted from 11-25 February 2005 in four selected sites. The areas selected for the pretest were urban Addis Ababa and both urban and rural parts of Mekele, Ambo and Debre Birhan areas. Based on the findings of the pretest, the household, the women’s and men’s questionnaires were further refined in all the three local languages.
TRAINING AND FIELDWORK
The recruitment of interviewers, editors and supervisors was conducted in the 9 regions and 2 city administrations taking into account language skills of the specific areas. Accommodation was arranged for the trainees as well as the trainers at a training site in Addis Ababa. The training of interviewers, editors and supervisors was conducted from March 14 to April 20, 2005. The Amharic questionnaires were used during the training, while the Tigrigna and Oromiffa versions were simultaneously checked against the Amharic questionnaires to ensure accurate translation. In addition to classroom training, trainees did several days of field practice to gain more experience on interviewing in the three local languages and fieldwork logistics.
A total of 271 trainees were trained in five classrooms. In each class the training was conducted by two senior staff members of PHCCO. The Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia conducted a session demonstrating and explaining the different family planning methods, while UNFPA and CDC conducted a session on HIV/AIDS. After the training on how to complete the household, women’s and men’s questionnaires was completed, an exam was given to all trainees. On the basis of the scores on the exam and overall performances in the classroom, 240 trainees were selected to participate in the main fieldwork. From the group 30 of the best male trainees were selected as supervisors and 30 of the best female interviewers were identified as field editors. The remaining 180 trainees were selected to be interviewers. The trainees not selected to participate in the fieldwork were kept as reserve.
After completing the interviewers’ training, the field editors and supervisors were trained for an additional three days on how to supervise the fieldwork and edit questionnaires in the field to ensure data quality.
Thirty male interviewers and 30 female interviewers were selected to attend the biomarker training. In addition, the 30 field editors also attended the training, as a backup to the biomarker interviewers. Thirteen regional laboratory technicians who were recruited from Private Laboratory Consortium Unit (PLCU) to serve as regional coordinators for the HIV testing were also trained, of whom 11 were eventually selected to supervise the blood collection. During the one-week biomarker training, six experienced experts from ORC Macro and EHNRI provided theoretical training followed by practical classroom demonstrations of the techniques for testing of haemoglobin and collection of dried blood spots from a finger prick for HIV testing. In addition to the classroom training, trainees did several days of field practice to gain more experience on blood collection.
A total of 30 data collection teams, each composed of four female interviewers, two male interviewers, one female editor, and a male team supervisor, were organized for the main fiedwork. Furthermore, the 30 field teams were organized into 11 regional groups, each headed by an experienced senior staff of PHCCO and accompanied by a regional coordinator from PLCU. The survey was fielded from April 27 to August 30, 2005. The fieldwork was closely monitored for data quality through regular field visits by senior staff from PHCCO, ORC Macro, and other member organizations of the Steering Committee. Data quality was also monitored through field check tables generated from completed clusters simultaneously data entered and produced during the fieldwork. Five senior experts from PHCCO were permanently assigned to monitor the fieldwork throughout the survey period by moving from one region to another. Continuous communication was maintained between the field staff and the headquarters through cell phones.
Fieldwork was successfully completed in 535 of the 540 clusters, with the 5 clusters not covered primarily due to reasons of inaccessibility. Two of these clusters were located in rural Oromiya, one in rural Somali, one in rural SNNP and one in urban Gambela. DBS samples were collected in 534 out of the 535 clusters and delivered to EHNRI for analysis. In one cluster in the Gambela Region, households refused to be finger-pricked for cultural and traditional reasons.