Questionnaires
The Household Survey Section of CBS developed an initial questionnaire of NLSS II on the basis of the questionnaires used in the NLSS I and others. The draft questionnaire was subsequently modified through experience gained from pre-tests. Two types of questionnaires were administered in NLSS II: household questionnaire and community questionnaires (urban and rural). In order to generate comparable data with NLSS I, as many of the NLSS I questions as possible were retained in NLSS II. However, some important additions were made on the household questionnaire to address some contemporary issues such as population migration and child labor. Some questions were omitted based on whether such questions were poorly answered or collected in NLSS I. Detailed discussions were made on the household questionnaire with members of NLSS II Technical Committee, representatives from different donor agencies and other stakeholders. For instance, questions on anthropometrics section were dropped for the reason stated above. Questions on new areas of concern and economic activities were added (child labour - merged from a planned ILO "Nepal Child Labor Survey" for members 5 years of age and over). Sections on changes in household composition for the panel component of the survey and children (under 15 years of age) away from home were added. Questions on migration were asked of all members of the household 5 years and older in this survey instead of just the household head in previous survey. Other additions and modifications included own account production of goods, extended economic activities, underemployment status, health information including HIV/AIDS and household facilities. Some gender specific questions were added in agricultural wages whereas a few questions were dropped from the agriculture section. There were separate sets of questionnaires for urban and rural communities, as in NLSS I. Community questionnaires were designed to measure community characteristics and market prices to supplement the information collected through household questionnaire. The questionnaires were revised intensively with the feedback from pre-test in the field. The pre-test was done in different ecological zones, development regions and urban/rural areas during July-August 2002. The pre-test was also designed to track panel households and the tracking was found to be 80 percent.
Household Questionnaire
There was a 74-paged household questionnaire with 19 sections and 10 appendices. The contents of the questionnaire were:
Section 0. Survey Information
The information on the verification of the interview, data entry and supervision was included in the section. This was very useful for tracking sampled households and replacing them with the alternative households whenever originally selected households could not be interviewed.
Section 1. Household Information
The information was collected on ethnicity, demographic characteristics and identification of household members, information on parents of household members and economic activities undertaken and unemployment/underemployment status of household members 5 years and older.
Section 2. Housing
This section collected information on types of dwelling, housing expenses, expenditure on utilities and amenities and collection of firewood.
Section 3. Access to Facilities
This section gathered information about the distance of 15 kinds of different public services/facilities from the household's residence.
Section 4. Migration
This section gathered information on migration and its determinants for all household members 5 years and older.
Section 5. Food Expenses and Home Production
This section collected information on consumption and expenditures of 68 food items. The monthly consumption of home production, monthly expenses on purchase and annual value of in-kind receipts of foods were included with the reference period of past 12 months.
Section 6. Non-food Expenditures and Inventory of Durable Goods
This section collected information on frequent expenditures (fuels, clothing, day-to-day consumption expenses, etc.) and infrequent non-food expenditures (taxes, ceremonial expenses, durable goods expenses, etc.), valuation of inventory of durable goods and own account production of goods.
Section 7. Education
This section gathered information about literacy and educational status of all household members 5 years and older. Schooling/level of educational attainment, past enrollment/drop outs, current enrollment and educational expenditures were captured under this section.
Section 8. Health
This section collected information on chronic and acute illnesses, uses of medical facilities, expenditures on them, familiarity with HIV/AIDS, treatment of children under 5 years with diarrhea and immunization.
Section 9. Marriage and Maternity History
This section incorporated information on maternity history of all ever married women aged 15-49 who had given live birth, pre- and post-natal care of all women who had given live birth during the past 36 months and marriage and family planning practices of all currently married women aged 15- 49 years.
Section 10. Wage Employment
This section collected information on wage employment in agriculture and outside agriculture for all persons 5 years and older with activities and income on daily, long term and contract bases.
Section 11. Farming and Livestock
This section collected information on all agricultural activities like landholding (land owned, land sharecropped/rented/mortgaged-in, increase/decrease in holdings), production and uses of crops, expenditures on agricultural inputs (seeds and young plants, fertilizers and insecticides, hiring labour) earnings/expenditures of farming, ownership of livestock, earnings/expenditures of livestock, and ownership of farming assets and extension services.
Section 12. Non-agricultural Enterprises/Activities
This section collected information on all self employed non-agricultural enterprises and activities such as their types/operation and income/expenditures of the enterprises.
Section 13. Credit and Savings
This section collected information on loans borrowed by the household or any outstanding transaction on borrowing during the reference period, loans owed to others by household or any outstanding transaction on lending during the reference period and other assets (land, property and other fixed assets) owned by the household.
Section 14. Remittances and Transfers
This section collected information on remittances sent from the household members to others including recipient's activities and remittances received by members of the household from others including donor's work activities.
Section 15. Other Income
This section collected information on income from all other sources (especially on financial assets) not covered elsewhere in the questionnaire.
Section 16. Children Away from Home
This section collected information on children (currently non-household members) under 15 years who were away from home including their parents' situation, education, work activities, etc.
Section 17. Adequacy of Consumption and Government Services/Facilities
This section collected information on the households' opinion on their standards of living and the standards of government services/facilities that the households consuming.
Section 202. Panel Sample Household Tracking
This section collected information on the tracking of the panel households visited in 1995/96 (NLSS I) including their movements if not found, their composition in 1995/96 and situation of both current and the then household members.
Urban Community Questionnaire
The urban community questionnaire was developed to take interview with the leaders and knowledgeable persons representing the community of the numeration area, usually the ward and occasionally the sub-ward of the municipality. The contents of the questionnaire were:
Section 1. Population Characteristics and Infrastructure
This section collected information on characteristics of the community, status of electricity supply, water supply and sewerage system in the ward.
Section 2. Access to Facilities
This section collected information on the distance from the community to various places and public facilities and services. 2 Section 18 and 19 do not exist because Panel section was set at 20.
Section 3. Markets and Prices
This section collected information on the availability and prices of different food and non food commodities in the local shops/markets.
Section 4. Quality of Life
This section collected information on the quality of welfare items compared to their status 5 years ago.
Rural Community Questionnaires
The rural community questionnaire was developed to interview leaders and knowledgeable persons representing the community of the enumeration areas, which in most cases was the ward of the VDC. The contents of the questionnaire were:
Section 1. Population Characteristics and Infrastructure
This section collected information on characteristics of the community, status of electricity supply, water supply and sewerage system in the ward.
Section 2. Access to Facilities
This section collected information on the services and amenities, education status and health facilities existing in the VDC of the enumeration area.
Section 3. Agriculture and Forestry
This section collected information on the land situation, irrigation systems, and crop cycles, wages paid to hired labour, rental rates for cattle and machinery and use of forestry.
Section 4. Migration
This section collected information on the main migratory movements out and in the community.
Section 5. Development Programmes, User Groups and Quality of Life
This section collected information on development programmes, existing user groups and quality of life in the community.
Section 6. Rural Primary School
This section collected information on educational enrollment and infrastructure and supplies in the community.
Section 7. Rural Health Facilities
This section collected information on health facilities, equipment and services available and health personnel in the community.
Section 8. Markets and Prices
This section collected information on local shops, Haat bazaar, availability and prices of different goods in local shops/Haat bazaar, agricultural inputs and conversion of local units into standard units.