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one d id not fUlly escape t he l i mi t a t i ons of this method ­
o l og i c al deficiency.
The study interv iew questions, for example had 1;0 be
modified to obtain essential information on self-medication.
This late modi f Lcat.Lon could only be limited in scope and a
mor e comprehensive report on how the subj ects used t he s e
me d i c at ions for instance was not inc l ude d i n the data . A. pilot
s u r ve y could have drawn a t tent ion to t h e need to r ecord pre­
delivery blood pressures thus leading to more accurate measure
of incidence of postpartum h ypertension.
The i mpac t s that a good pilot s urvey c an h ave on the
out c omes of a ny s t udy a re theref o re s ho wn by these
lim! t.atI ons .
v . Th:;'s study a imed specifically at id e ntifying ea rly
po s t p a r t um morbidi t y in the pop ulation i n Kumasi with the
simplest a nd also che ap est tools available. Ava ilabili ty of
more sophisticated methods f or de tecti ng mor b idity e g o
l a b or a t or y investigations may have produced differen t results .
The rates of infectious d i seases r e port e d i n thi s s t udy f or
example, could be l e s s than t he actual rates in the study
popU lation since the "meas uri ng instruments" used i n disease
detection presently had l ow sr,nsitivity an d s pe c i f icity r ates.