Volume 28 - Article 27 | Pages 763–792  

The power of the interviewer: A qualitative perspective on African survey data collection

By Sara Randall, Ernestina Coast, Natacha Compaore, Philippe Antoine

Abstract

Background: African censuses and surveys remain dependent on interviewers for data collection. Data quality is assured through training and supervision. Many survey concepts are difficult to translate into African languages and some, such as "household", may have multiple criteria which are not fulfilled by everyone, leading interviewers to prioritise different criteria. Some questions introduce unfamiliar ideas which require considerable negotiation by interviewers to obtain acceptable answers.

Objective: To identify key stages in the data collection process and domains where interviewer judgement and interviewer-respondent social dynamics play a substantial role in determining who is included in household surveys, and in shaping responses to questions.

Methods: We analyse published definitions, enumerator manuals and qualitative interview data with households, interviewers, supervisors, trainers, survey organisers and analysts along the chain of data production and use in Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Burkina Faso.

Results: Despite comprehensive training manuals and definitions, interviewers influence who is included in, and excluded from surveys. Interviewer versatility needs to include both persuasive social skills and an ability to follow precise wording. In Africa, where survey concepts are often different from local concepts and where interviewers are socio-economically distant from respondents, these persuasive social skills are required throughout the interview process with unknown impact on the data produced. Language diversity is a major barrier to harmonisation.

Conclusions: To improve survey data validity more effort should be made to understand the influence of interviewers on data in low-income settings.

Comments: This submission covers important issues for demographers undertaking secondary analysis of African surveys, especially those without fieldwork experience.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The quality of demographic data on older Africans
Volume 34 - Article 5

Disciplining anthropological demography
Volume 16 - Article 16

Contemporary female migration in Ghana: Analyses of the 2000 and 2010 Censuses
Volume 39 - Article 44

Qualitative data in demography: The sound of silence and other problems
Volume 11 - Article 3

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Introducing the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey 2022
Volume 51 - Article 4    | Keywords: labor market, Sudan, survey

Using Respondent-Driven Sampling to measure abortion safety in restrictive contexts: Results from Kaya (Burkina Faso) and Nairobi (Kenya)
Volume 50 - Article 47    | Keywords: induced abortion, respondents-driven samples, social networks, sub-Saharan Africa

Predictive utility of key family planning indicators on dynamic contraceptive outcomes: Results from longitudinal surveys in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda, and Côte d'Ivoire
Volume 50 - Article 45    | Keywords: contraception, contraceptive adoption, contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive use, family planning, longitudinal data, methods, panel data, Performance and Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys, sub-Saharan Africa

The dynamic role of household structure on under-5 mortality in southern and eastern sub-Saharan Africa
Volume 49 - Article 11    | Keywords: child mortality, Health and Demographic Surveillance System, household structure, sub-Saharan Africa

Comparative evidence of years lived with reproductive-age morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa (2010‒2019)
Volume 49 - Article 6    | Keywords: life expectancy, maternal morbidities, reproductive age, sub-Saharan Africa