Conducting a Participatory Situation Analysis of.pdf - Global HIV ...

Experience from the Field:
Questionnaire Data Collection
Each of the four districts in Zambia had 13 research
assistants and a supervisor to administer orphans and
vulnerable children questionnaires (see Appendix H).
All team members were from the district (but not
necessarily the same compounds) where the study
took place.The research assistant team included 6
interviewers, 6 PSSPs, and a team leader to coordinate
the work.All interviews were conducted by a
pair of interviewers; no interview was allowed to take
place without an interviewer and a PSSP.A supervisor
managed each district’s work.The questionnaires
were verified from the beginning to end for the following:
• Ascertaining that the interviewer and PSSP had
signed as witnesses to the verbal consent or
assent.
• Ascertaining that all skip and filter instructions
were followed.
• Ensuring consistency and correctness of data
entry.
The supervisor provided overall guidance to the team
leader and the other research assistants and ensured
that the interviewers adhered to the procedures presented
in the PSSP protocol as well as those in the
PSSP questionnaire manual.
It is likely that several data entry clerks or managers and
a data entry supervisor will be needed, as noted in
Chapter Two. Data will be entered according to the
instructions of the statistical analysis computer package
(e.g., Epi-Info, SPSS, SAS, and STATA). The Technical
Lead and the Situation Analysis Manager should discuss
and decide which computer package best meets the
analysis objectives and budget.
Data entry should be checked by verifying the accuracy
of a sample of completed survey questionnaires. If
resources permit, the data should be entered twice and
the two entered data sets compared to detect data entry
errors. After data entry errors have been reconciled, the
data should be checked for values that are “out of range”
(i.e., values that are implausible or impossible) and/or are
inconsistent with other information gathered in the questionnaire
interview (e.g., males reporting having become
pregnant, information on condom use having been gathered
for respondents reporting not having been sexually
active). The data should also be checked for “missing”
items; that is, items that should have been completed
during the interview but were not, either because of
respondent inability/refusal or interviewer error.
Decisions must then be made as to whether to return
to the respondent for clarification or to simply disregard
missing data items during analysis. Good supervision
throughout the interviewing helps avoid the problem
of missing data.
Questionnaire Checks
The quality of the fieldwork or data collection is one of
the most important aspects of OVC analyses. It is, therefore,
essential that the team leader ensure that all fieldwork
controls are adhered to and that all fieldwork is
thoroughly checked and edited. Field editing is especially
important at the beginning of fieldwork, when interviewers
are less familiar with the questionnaire. Field supervisors
or the Technical Lead should spot-check
questionnaires for completeness and accuracy.
The interviewer and team leader will edit the completed
questionnaires. After an interviewer completes each questionnaire,
he or she must go through it to ensure that it
has been properly completed. If there is something on
the questionnaire that requires attention, it must be corrected
before the interviewer leaves the interview site.
After every third completed questionnaire, the interviewer
must take them to the team leader for quick editing
before continuing with the data collection exercise. To
facilitate the data collection process, the team leader
should edit the questionnaires on the spot to avoid the
need to re-contact respondents the next day.
All questionnaires should be reviewed from beginning to
end for the following:
• Verify that an interview result code has been recorded
in the interviewer visit box on the cover page of
the questionnaire.
• Verify that the interviewer has signed the witnessed
verbal consent.
• Verify that all skip and filter instructions have been
respected.
• Verify that the responses are legible (especially that
the crosses/checkmarks are clearly written).
• Verify that only one response code is circled for each
question, unless instructions allow for more than one
response (e.g., verify that codes “2” [No] have been
circled for all responses not coded “1” [Yes]).
Conducting a Participatory Situation Analysis of
Orphans and Vulnerable Children Affected by HIV/AIDS
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