Fourth Integrated Household Survey 2016-2017

DATA ENTRY PLATFORM
To ensure data quality and timely availability of data, the IHS4 was implemented using the World Bank's Survey Solutions CAPI software. To carry out IHS4, 1 laptop computer and a wireless internet router were assigned to each team supervisor, and each enumerator had an 8-inch GPS-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet computer. The use of Survey Solutions allowed for the real-time availability of data as the completed data was completed, approved by the Supervisor and synced to the Headquarters server as frequently as possible. While administering the first module of the questionnaire the enumerator(s) also used their tablets to record the GPS coordinates of the dwelling units. In Survey Solutions, Headquarters can then see the location of the dwellings plotted on a map of Malawi to better enable supervision from afar - checking both the number of interviews performed and the fact that the sample households lie within EA boundaries. Geo-referenced household locations from that tablet complemented the GPS measurements taken by the Garmin eTrex 30 handheld devices and these were linked with publically available geospatial databases to enable the inclusion of a number of geospatial variables - extensive measures of distance (i.e. distance to the nearest market), climatology, soil and terrain, and other environmental factors - in the analysis.

DATA MANAGEMENT
The IHS4 Survey Solutions CAPI based data entry application was designed to stream-line the data collection process from the field. IHS4 Interviews were collected in “sample” mode (assignments generated from headquarters) as opposed to “census” mode (new interviews created by interviewers from a template) for the NSO to have more control over the sample.

The range and consistency checks built into the application was informed by the LSMS-ISA experience in IHS3 and IHPS. Prior programming of the data entry application allowed for a wide variety of range and consistency checks to be conducted and reported and potential issues investigated and corrected before closing the assigned enumeration area. Headquarters (NSO management) assigned work to supervisors based on their regions of coverage. Supervisors then made assignments to the enumerators linked to their Supervisor account. The work assignments and syncing of completed interviews took place through a Wi-Fi connection to the IHS4 server. Because the data was available in real time it was monitored closely throughout the entire data collection period and upon receipt of the data at headquarters, data was exported to STATA for other consistency checks, data cleaning, and analysis.

DATA CLEANING
The data cleaning process was done in several stages over the course of field work and through preliminary analysis. The first stage of data cleaning was conducted in the field by the field based field teams utilizing errors generated with the Survey Solutions application. For questions that flagged an error, enumerators were expected to record a comment within the questionnaire to explain to their Supervisor the reason for the error and confirming that they double checked the response with the respondent. Supervisors were expected to sync the enumerator tablets as frequently as possible to avoid having many questionnaires on the tablet, and to enable daily checks of questionnaires. Some Supervisors preferred to review completed interviews on the tablets so they would review prior to syncing but still record the notes in the Supervisor account and reject questionnaires accordingly. The second stage of data cleaning was also done in the field and this resulted from the additional error reports generated in STATA and sent to teams via email. Field supervisors collected reports for their assignments and in coordination with the enumerators reviewed, investigated, and collected errors. Due to the quick turn-around in error reporting, it was possible to conduct call backs while the team was still operating in the enumeration area when required. Corrections to the data were entered in the rejected questionnaires and sent back to headquarters.

Additional cleaning was performed after interviews were “Approved” where appropriate to resolve systematic errors and organize data modules for consistency and efficient use. Case by case cleaning was also performed during the preliminary analysis specifically pertaining to out of range and outlier variables. All cleaning activities were conducted in collaboration with the WB staff providing technical assistance to the NSO in the design and implementation of the IHS4.