Quality Assurance in Population and Housing Censuses BY

Quality Assurance in Population and Housing Censuses BY LANGTON CHIKEYA, ZIMBABWE NATIONAL STATISTICS AGENCY

Presentation outline q. Census process q. Quality control of interview q. Quality control of content q. Quality control of coverage q. Problems in Undertaking QA q. Recommended Solutions

Census committees

Quality of census Processes q. Questionnaire Design q. Enumeration q. Data processing q. Dissemination.

Quality of census Processes q. Preliminary report q. National & Provincial Reports q. Atlas q. Thematic Reports

Quality of census processes There were basically three procedures used to improve the coverage and quality of the data: • Quality control of interview • Quality control of content • Quality control of coverage

Quality control of interview Ensure that all the persons in the exercise clearly understand the whole operation, i. e Objectives, concepts and contents in the questionnaire and field operations Three Manuals were prepared that is; ◦ Enumerator Manual, ◦ Supervisor Manual and ◦ Training Manual

Quality control of interview cnt q. EA Supervisor accompanied each enumerator at the beginning of the enumeration exercise. q. The supervisor recorded each mistake on the Supervisor’s Quality Control Form. q. Mistakes including both asking the questions incorrectly and errors in recording the questions were highlighted to the enumerator. q. Mistakes were correct whilst in the field.

Quality Control of Content q. During and after enumeration, completed questionnaires were checked for completeness and consistency. q. During enumeration corrections were made on the spot q. After the enumeration exercise all completed questionnaires were checked and edited q. A check list for quality control of completed questionnaires was produced for checking internal inconsistency

Quality Control of Content cnt If any inconsistencies arose which could not be corrected from the information already given, the enumerator had to go back to the household for clarification.

Quality Control of Coverage q. The census was undertaken on the basis of complete enumeration q. Unit of Enumeration (private and collective households) q. Special arrangements for overnight travelers

Quality Control of Coverage Spot checks on coverage. ◦ three ways were used to check coverage. These are: A check household stickers Observation of selected interviews A cross check Between enumerated and mapping count.

Quality Control of Coverage cnt There were three possible outcomes from cross checking: ◦ an undercount ◦ an over count. ◦ an acceptable result If the differences between counts were too large a more detailed check to determine whether an explanation for the differences or whether the enumerator appeared to have made mistakes were undertaken.

Post Enumeration Survey q. The post enumeration survey was preferred to demographic techniques(for the 1 st time) qcensus coverage errors and to enhance skills qlevel of coverage errors and not new estimate for the total population

Problems in undertaking QA q. Some supervisors had challenges in calculating under counts and over counts. q. Field supervision by some district and enumeration area supervisors was not done to satisfaction q. Not all unused questionnaires were accounted for q. The PES consultant that was hired had problems with such surveys

Recommendations to the problems q. There is need to strengthen quality assurance by setting up a committee to oversee implementation of procedures. q. In future it might be necessary to remove district level supervisors and increase enumeration area supervisors. q. There is need to tighten tracking of questionnaires before dispatching them. q. There is need to have a separate editing manual to be used at various stages of census taking. q. If consultants are to be hired, lets pick reputable persons

GOD BLESS!