Data Collection Notes
FEMALE SURVEY:
From the beginning, it was decided that only female interviewers would be used for the Family Health Survey of females. These interviewers were centrally trained over a period of four days, i.e. 23-26 October, 1999, on the female questionnaire. The CSO staff was responsible for the training, and this team comprised a Senior Statistician and another Statistician. These two officers were supported by the regional consultant, who was in country for the training. These lead trainers were assisted in administrative and logistical matters by a Statistician (Ag.), two Statistical Officers and two Statistical Assistants. Their task included matters such as venue preparations, hotel arrangements for interviewers, payments to trainees and eventually to the fieldstaff, distribution of training materials as well as other administrative and logistical matters. Personnel trained included the six District Supervisors, who form a part of the permanent staff of the CSO and who are each based in one of Belize's six administrative areas. These officers are also charged with the responsibility for recruitment of field supervisors, interviewers and editors in their particular district. In addition, other personnel trained included one Assistant District Supervisor who was hired specifically for the survey, seven (7) Field Supervisors, sixty one (61) Interviewers and seven (7) Editors.
The first morning of the training session was dedicated to administrative matters dealing with payments and roles of different survey personnel, as well as to general survey topics such as interviewing techniques and procedures and concepts and definitions. Following this, the various sections of the questionnaire were timetabled over the remaining days, leaving adequate time at the end for paired interviews, mock interviews, as well as some live interviews in the field.
The fieldwork for the female Family Health Survey started on schedule on October 30, 1999, and was to last for five (5) weeks. A pilot survey had been done prior to the main fieldwork, and from this pilot, some changes to the questionnaire were incorporated, and some logistics were corrected. The administration of the fieldwork was similar to the administration of all of the CSO's household surveys, with the staff from headquarters liasing directly with the District Supervisor. This officer, in turn, had at least one Field Supervisor assisting him with the implementation of the fieldwork at the district level. In the case of the Belize District, however, because of the population size of this district, a headquarter staff member was assigned on a full time basis to assist the District Supervisor, who also had assistance from at least three (3) Field Supervisors. A very important task of the Field Supervisor, in addition to his task of correcting, guiding and training of his interviewers to carry out the work, was to do some sample re-interviews of households already interviewed by the interviewers. This helps greatly in enhancing a higher quality of information collected. The District Supervisor was also required to do sample re-interviews, and was the manager of all the operations at the district level.
MALE SURVEY:
From the beginning, it was decided that only female interviewers would be used for the Family Health Survey of females and males for the male survey. These interviewers were centrally trained over a period of three days, i.e. 12-14 November, 1999, on the male questionnaire. The staff of the CSO was responsible for the training, and this team comprised a senior Statistician and one other Statistician. These lead trainers were assisted in administrative and logistical matters by a Statistician (Ag.), two Statistical Officers and two Statistical Assistants. Their task included matters such as venue preparations, hotel arrangements for interviewers, payments to trainees and eventually to the fieldstaff, distribution of training materials as well as other administrative and logistical matters.
Personnel trained included the six District Supervisors, who form part of the permanent staff of the CSO and each of whom is based in one of Belize's six administrative areas. These officers are also charged with the responsibility for the recruitment of field supervisors, interviewers and editors in their particular district. In addition, other officers trained included one Assistant District Supervisor who was hired specifically for the survey, seven (7) Field Supervisors, sixty one (61) Interviewers and seven (7) Editors. The first morning of the training session was dedicated to administrative matters dealing with payments and roles of different survey personnel, as well as to general survey topics such as interviewing techniques and procedures, and concepts and definitions. Following this, the various sections of the questionnaire were timetabled over remaining days, leaving adequate time at the end for paired interviews, mock interviews, as well as some live interviews in the field.
The fieldwork for the male Family Health Survey started as scheduled on November 15, 1999, and was to last for four (4) weeks. A pilot survey had been done prior to the main fieldwork, and from this pilot, some changes to the questionnaire were incorporated, and some logistics were corrected. The administration of the fieldwork was similar to the administration of all of the CSO's household surveys with staff from the headquarter liasing directly with the District Supervisors. This District Supervisor, in turn, has at least one Field Supervisor assisting him with the implementation of the fieldwork at the district level. In the case of the Belize District however, because of population size, a staff member from headquarters was assigned on a full time basis to assist the District Supervisor, who also had assistance from at least three (3) Field Supervisors. A very important task of the Field Supervisor, in addition to his task of correcting, guiding and training of his interviewers to carry out the work, was to do sample re-interviews of households already interviewed by the interviewers. This helps greatly in enhancing a higher quality of information collected. The District Supervisor was also required to do sample re-interviews, and was the manager of all the operations at the district level.