Integrated Household Panel Survey 2010-2013-2016-2019 (Long-Term Panel, 102 EAs)

Data Entry Platform
To ensure data quality and timely availability of data, the IHPS 2019 was implemented using the World Bank’s Survey Solutions CAPI software. To carry out IHPS 2019, 1 laptop computer and a wireless internet router were assigned to each team supervisor, and each enumerator had an 8–inch GPS-enabled Lenovo tablet computer that the NSO provided. 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. 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 IHPS 2019 Survey Solutions CAPI based data entry application was designed to stream-line the data collection process from the field. IHPS 2019 Interviews were mainly collected in “sample” mode (assignments generated from headquarters) and a few in “census” mode (new interviews created by interviewers from a template) for the NSO to have more control over the sample. This hybrid approach was necessary to aid the tracking operations whereby an enumerator could quickly create a tracking assignment considering that they were mostly working in areas with poor network connection and hence could not quickly receive tracking cases from Headquarters.

The range and consistency checks built into the application was informed by the LSMS-ISA experience with the IHS3 2010/11, IHPS 2013 and IHPS 2016. 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 (the NSO management) assigned work to the supervisors based on their regions of coverage. The 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 IHPS 2019 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 fieldwork and through preliminary analysis. The first stage of data cleaning was conducted in the field by the field-based field teams utilizing error messages generated by the Survey Solutions application when a response did not fit the rules for a particular question. For questions that flagged an error, the 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. The 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, which were in turn sent to the field teams via email or DropBox. The 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 EA when required. Corrections to the data were entered in the rejected questionnaires and sent back to headquarters.

The data cleaning process was done in several stages over the course of the fieldwork and through preliminary analyses. The first stage was during the interview itself. Because CAPI software was used, as enumerators asked the questions and recorded information, error messages were provided immediately when the information recorded did not match previously defined rules for that variable. For example, if the education level for a 12 year old respondent was given as post graduate. The second stage occurred during the review of the questionnaire by the Field Supervisor. The Survey Solutions software allows errors to remain in the data if the enumerator does not make a correction. The enumerator can write a comment to explain why the data appears to be incorrect. For example, if the previously mentioned 12 year old was, in fact, a genius who had completed graduate studies. The next stage occurred when the data were transferred to headquarters where the NSO staff would again review the data for errors and verify the comments from the enumerators and supervisors regarding anomalies that remain.

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 led by the NSO, and the World Bank LSMS-ISA team provided technical assistance.