High-Frequency Phone Survey 2020-2024
Malawi, 2020 - 2024
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MWI_2020-2024_HFPS_v20_M
High-Frequency Phone Survey 2020-2024
HFPS-COVID-19 2020-2024
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Malawi | MWI |
Socio-Economic/Monitoring Survey [hh/sems]
The World Bank is providing support to countries to help mitigate the spread and impact of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). One area of support is for data collection to inform evidence-based policies that may help mitigate the effects of this disease. Towards this end, the World Bank is leveraging the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) program to implement high-frequency phone surveys on COVID-19 in 5 African countries - Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi. This effort is part of a broader first wave of World Bank-supported national longitudinal high frequency survey that can be used to help assess the economic and social implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on households and individuals.
The Malawi High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) is implemented by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The first 12 rounds of the study were conducted on a monthly basis during the period of May 2020 and June 2021. Follow up rounds of the study are conducted on a bi-monthly basis starting in February 2022. The survey is part of a World Bank-supported global effort to support countries in their data collection efforts to monitor the impacts of COVID-19. The financing for data collection and technical assistance in support of the Malawi HFPS COVID-19 is provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.
The households were drawn from the sample of households interviewed in 2019 as part of the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS 2019). The IHPS 2019 households were interviewed in 2010, 2013, 2016, and the extensive information collected in the IHPS 2019 just over a year prior to the pandemic provides a rich set of background information on the HFPS COVID-19 households which can be leveraged to assess the differential impacts of the pandemic in the country.
The objective of HFPS is for routine monitoring and understanding the impacts of shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic. These data will contribute to filling critical gaps in information that could be used by the Malawian government and stakeholders to help design policies to mitigate the negative impacts on its population. The HFPS in Malawi is designed to accommodate the evolving nature of the crises, including revision of the questionnaire on a bi-monthly basis.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Household
- Individual
Version
Version 20: Edited, anonymized dataset for public distribution.
2024-05
This version includes round 21 datasets and updated "sect8_food_security_r20.dta" data.
Scope
The Malawi-HFPS covered the following topics:
- Household Roster (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- Knowledge about government guidelines against COVID-19 and misconceptions about COVID-19 (Round 1, 2, 3, 7)
- Behaviour and Social Distancing (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- Access to Basic Services (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,12, 13, 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21)
- Mental Health (Round 6, 9, 18)
- Early Child Development (Round 6, 12)
- Employment (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- Youth Education and Aspirations (Round 10)
- Non-Farm Enterprises (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 20)
- Other Income/Income Losses (Round 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16)
- Credit (Round, 3, 4, 7, 8, 14)
- Economic Sentiments (Round 14, 16, 17, 19, 21)
- Crops production and sales (Round 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 17, 18)
- Livestock (Round 4, 5, 12)
- Food Security (Round 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- Concerns (Round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13)
- Vaccines (Round 1 and 15, 16, 17)
- Commodity Prices (Round 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21)
- Shocks and Coping Strategies (Round 2, 3, 7, 16, 18, 20)
- Aid and Support/ Social Safety Nets (Round 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 14, 16)
- Fuels (Round 16)
- Survey of Well-being via Instant and Frequent Tracking (Round 17)
- Access to Essential Food and Non-Food Items (Round 19)
- Dietary Diversity (Round 19, 20, 21)
- Subjective Welfare (Round 19, 20, 21)
- SWIFT (Round 21)
Coverage
National coverage
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO) | Government of Malawi |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| The World Bank | Technical assistance |
| Name | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| United States Agency for International Development | USAID | Financial support |
| The World Bank | WBG | Financial support |
| The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents | GFF | Financial support |
Sampling
The IHPS conducted in 2019 served as the frame for the HFPS COVID-19. This sample of households is representative nationally as well as by the urban/rural divide. In every visit of the IHPS, phone numbers are collected from interviewed households for all household members and 3 reference persons who are in close contact with the household in order to assist in locating and interviewing households who may have moved in subsequent waves of the survey. This comprehensive set of phone numbers as well as the already well-established relationship between NSO and the IHPS households made this an ideal frame from which to conduct the COVID-19 monitoring survey in Malawi.
Among the 3,181 households interviewed during the IHPS in 2019, 2,337 (73%) provided at least one phone number. Around 85 percent of these households provided a phone number for at least one household member while the remaining 15 percent only provided a phone number for a reference person. Households with only the phone number of a reference person were expected to be more difficult to reach but were nonetheless included in the frame and deemed eligible for selection for the HFPS COVID-19.
To obtain a nationally representative sample for the HFPS COVID-19, the survey aimed to recontact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2019 round and that had phone numbers for at least one household member or a reference individual. All 2,337 households that had either a contact for a household member or reference person were contacted in the baseline round of the phone survey.
All 2,337 households were successfully contacted. Of those contacted, 74 percent or 1,729 households were fully interviewed. These 1,729 households constitute the final successful sample and will be contacted in subsequent rounds of the survey.
BASELINE (ROUND 1): All 2,337 households were attempted. Of those contacted, 74 percent or 1,729 households were fully interviewed. These 1,729 households constitute the final successful sample and will be contacted in subsequent rounds of the survey.
ROUND 2: Of the 1729 households that were successfully interviewed during Round 1, 1646 or 95 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 3: 1624 households or 94 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 4: 1616 households or 94 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 5: 1589 households or 94 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 6: 1592 households or 93 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 7: 1560 households or 92 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 8: 1551 households or 91 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 9: 1545 households or 91 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 10: 919 households (that had an eligible youth) or 81 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 11: 1541 households or 91 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 12: 1533 households or 90 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 13: 1447 households or 85 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 14: 1422 households or 84 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 15: 1362 households or 81 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 16: 1362 households or 81 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 17: 1318 households or 78 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 18: 1343 households or 80 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 19: 1381 households or 83 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 20: 1344 households or 81 percent were successfully interviewed.
ROUND 21: 1232 households or 79 percent were successfully interviewed.
To obtain unbiased estimates from the sample, the information reported by households needs to be adjusted by a sampling weight (or raising factor) w_h.
To construct the sampling weights, we follow the steps outlined in Himelein, K. (2014), which outlines eight steps, of which we follow six, to construct the sampling weights for the HFPS-HH:
- Begin with base weights from the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2019 for each household
- Incorporate probability of sub-selection of round 1 unit for each of the phone survey households.
- Pool the weights in Steps 1 and 2.
- Derive attrition-adjusted weights forTo obtain unbiased estimates from the sample, the information reported by households needs to be adjusted by a sampling weight (or raising factor) w_h. To construct the sampling weights, we follow the steps outlined in Himelein, K. (2014), which outlines eight steps, of which we follow six, to construct the sampling weights for the HFPS-HH:
- Begin with base weights from the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2019 for each household
- Incorporate probability of sub-selection of round 1 unit for each of the phone survey households.
- Pool the weights in Steps 1 and 2.
- Derive attrition-adjusted weights for all individuals by running a logistic response propensity model based on characteristics of the household head (i.e. gender, primary language spoken, education, labor force status) and characteristics of the household (household size, food consumption score, assets, financial characteristics).
- Trim weights by replacing the top three percent of observations with the 98th percentile cut-off point; and
- Post-stratify weights to known population totals to correct for the imbalances across our sample.
In doing so, we ensure that the distribution in the survey matches the distribution in the IHPS.
- Additional technical details and explanations on each of the steps briefly outlined above can be found in Himelein, K. (2014).
Baseline (ROUND 1): The weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r1. The variable name is wt_baseline.
ROUND 2: The round 2 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r2. The variable name is wt_round2.
ROUND 3: The round 3 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r3. The variable name is wt_round3.
ROUND 4: The round 4 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r4. The variable name is wt_round4.
ROUND 5: The round 5 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r5. The variable name is wt_round5.
ROUND 6: The round 6 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r6. The variable name is wt_round6.
ROUND 7: The round 7 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r7. The variable name is wt_round7.
ROUND 8: The round 8 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r8. The variable name is wt_round8.
ROUND 9: The round 9 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r9. The variable name is wt_round9.
ROUND 10: The round 10 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r10. The variable name is wt_round10.
ROUND 11: The round 11 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r11. The variable name is wt_round11.
ROUND 12: The round 12 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_Cover_Page_r12. The variable name is wt_round12.
ROUND 13: The round 13 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r13. The variable name is wt_p2round1.
ROUND 14: The round 14 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r14. The variable name is wt_p2round2.
ROUND 15: The round 15 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r15. The variable name is wt_p2round3.
ROUND 16: The round 16 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r16. The variable name is wt_p2round4.
ROUND 17: The round 17 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r17. The variable name is wt_p2round5.
ROUND 18: The round 18 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r18. The variable name is wt_round18.
ROUND 19: The round 19 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r19. The variable name is wt_round19.
ROUND 20: The round 20 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r20. The variable name is wt_round20.
ROUND 21: The round 21 weights can be found in the household-level data file secta_cover_page_r21. The variable name is wt_round21.
Survey instrument
The Malawi HFPS households questionnaire consists of the following sections:
ROUND 1
- Household Roster
- Knowledge Regarding the Spread of COVID-19
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment - Income Loss
- Food Security
- Concerns
- Social Safety Nets
- Agriculture
ROUND 2
- Household Roster
- Knowledge about government guidelines against COVID-19 and misconceptions about COVID-19
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Other Income
- Income Loss
- Food Security
- Concerns
- Shocks and Coping Strategies
- Social Safety Nets
ROUND 3
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Other Income
- Credit
- Income Loss
- Food Security
- Concerns
- Shocks and Coping Strategies
- Social Safety Nets
ROUND 4
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Other Income
- Credit
- Agriculture
- Income Loss
- Concerns
- Interview Results
ROUND 5
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Education
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Other Income
- Agriculture
- Food Security
- Concerns
- Safety Nets
ROUND 6
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Mental Health
- Access to Basic Services
- Early Child Development
- Employment
- Other Income
- Agriculture
- Food Security
- Concerns
ROUND 7
- Household Roster
- Knowledge
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Education
- Early Child Development
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Agriculture
- Food Security
- Credit
- Income Losses
- Shocks and Coping Strategies
ROUND 8
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Food Security
- Credit
- Concerns
- Safety Nets
ROUND 9
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Mental Health
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Income Loss
- Food Security
- Concerns
ROUND 10
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Youth Education, Employment and Aspirations
ROUND 11
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Agriculture
- Income Changes
- Food Security
ROUND 12
- Household Roster
- Behaviour and Social Distancing
- Access to Basic Services
- Early Childhood Development
- Employment
- Non-Farm Enterprises
- Agriculture
- Food Security - Concerns
ROUND 13
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services
- Employment
- Income Changes
- Vaccine Uptake
ROUND 14
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services
- Employment
- Credit
- Economic Sentiments
ROUND 15
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services - Original Module*
- Access to Health Services - Revised Module*
- Food Prices
- Shocks/Coping Strategies
- Vaccines – Main Respondent*
- Vaccines – Randomly Selected Respondent*
ROUND 16
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services
- COVID-19 Vaccine
- Employment
- Food Insecurity Experience Scale
- Income Loss
- Safety nets
- Prices
- Economic Sentiments
- Past Experience, Current Experience & Future Expectations: Climate/Weather
ROUND 17
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services
- Employment
- Economic Sentiments
- SWIFT
- Prices
- Agriculture
- COVID-19 Vaccine
ROUND 18
- Household Roster
- Access to Health Services
- Mental Health
- Employment
- Food Security
- Shocks/Coping Strategies
- Agriculture
ROUND 19
- Household Roster
- Access to Essential Food and Non-Food Items
- Commodity Prices
- Employment
- Food Security
- Dietary Diversity
- Economic Sentiments
- Subjective Welfare
ROUND 20
- Household Roster
- Access to Essential Goods
- Access to Health Services
- Education
- Commodity Prices
- Employment
- Non-Farm Businesses
- Food Security
- Dietary Diversity
- Economic Sentiments
- Shocks and Coping Strategies
- Subjective Welfare
ROUND 21
- Household Roster
- Access to Essential Goods
- Access to Health Services
- Commodity Prices
- Employment
- Food Security
- Dietary Diversity
- Economic Sentiments
- Subjective Welfare
- SWIFT
Data collection
| Start | End | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-05-26 | 2020-06-14 | (Baseline) Round 1 |
| 2020-07-02 | 2020-07-20 | Round 2 |
| 2020-08-12 | 2020-08-27 | Round 3 |
| 2020-09-12 | 2020-10-01 | Round 4 |
| 2020-10-29 | 2020-11-16 | Round 5 |
| 2020-12-10 | 2020-12-29 | Round 6 |
| 2021-01-20 | 2021-02-06 | Round 7 |
| 2021-02-23 | 2021-03-15 | Round 8 |
| 2021-04-07 | 2021-04-23 | Round 9 |
| 2021-04-29 | 2021-05-14 | Round 10 |
| 2021-05-26 | 2021-06-09 | Round 11 |
| 2021-06-14 | 2021-06-30 | Round 12 |
| 2022-02-03 | 2022-02-20 | Round 13 |
| 2022-05-08 | 2022-05-28 | Round 14 |
| 2022-07-26 | 2022-09-02 | Round 15 |
| 2022-11-09 | 2022-12-20 | Round 16 |
| 2023-02-22 | 2023-03-31 | Round 17 |
| 2023-05-27 | 2023-06-27 | Round 18 |
| 2023-12-13 | 2023-12-30 | Round 19 |
| 2024-02-22 | 2024-03-15 | Round 20 |
| 2024-04-19 | 2024-05-04 | Round 21 |
- Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]
Organization of Fieldwork
The HFPS COVID-19 Baseline was administered between May 26 and June 14, 2020. Data were collected by trained NSO interviewers who individually made phone calls from the call center at the NSO. Since the country was not fully on lockdown during the preparation and data collection exercise, interviewers were allowed to be in the office after seeking permission from the local authorities and also taking measures to protect themselves like ensuring 2 meters space between individuals. Most interviews were conducted from the call center, some interviews that required call backs conducted from the enumerators’ homes. Subsequent rounds also followed the same protocols, dates on when each round was administered can be found in the Basic Information Document.
Gift to Households
As a show of appreciation for the households’ participation, all households that gave consent to be interviewed, were transferred 1000 Malawi Kwacha credit to their phones (even if their interviews are only partially completed).
Pre-loaded Information
Basic information on every household was pre-loaded in the CATI assignments for each interviewer. The information was pre-loaded to (1) assist interviewers in calling and identifying the household and (2) ensure that each pre-loaded person is properly addressed and easily matched to the most recent face-to-face visits. Basic household information (location, household head name, phone numbers of adult members and reference persons, etc.) was pre-loaded. The list of individuals from IHPS 2019 and their basic characteristics were uploaded.
Respondents
The HFPS COVID-19 had ONE RESPONDENT per household. The respondent was always the knowledgeable adult household member or for some rounds the person that was randomly selected. The respondent must be a member of the household.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| LSMS Data Manager | The World Bank |
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO) (Government of Malawi). Malawi - High-Frequency Phone Survey 2020-2024 (HFPS 2020-2024). Ref: MWI_2020-2024_HFPS_v20_M. Downloaded from [uri] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| LSMS Data Manager | The World Bank | lsms@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_MWI_2020-2024_HFPS_v20_M_WB
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | DECDG | World Bank | Documentation of the study |
2023-08-10
Metadata version
Version 20 (July 2024). This is an update to the Malawi High-Frequency Phone Survey with round 21 data and documents.
2024-07-11