DHS EdData Survey 2004

Four questionnaires were used for the 2004 NDES:

1. The Household Questionnaire
2. The Parent/Guardian Questionnaire
3. The Eligible Child Questionnaire
4. The Independent Child Questionnaire
   These are all available under Appendix D of the Survey Report available under External Resources.

The Household questionnaire listed all of the people who were members of the household at the time the household was surveyed during the 2003 Nigeria DHS survey. The three purposes of the 2004 NDES Household Questionnaire were to:

• Confirm that the household was the same household surveyed by the 2003 Nigeria DHS survey;
• Identify which children were eligible (qualified) to be covered by the Eligible Child Questionnaire and those eligible to have anthropometric and literacy/numeracy data collected about them; and
• Identify a parent or guardian as the respondent for each eligible child.
  Children who were age 4-16 at the time of the 2003 Nigeria DHS survey were eligible to be covered by the Eligible Child Questionnaire. Children age 4-9 at the time of the 2003 Nigeria DHS survey had their height and weight measured, and children age 4-12 were given a literacy/numeracy test.

The Parent/Guardian Questionnaire collected background information on each parent/guardian respondent and on general education issues. Information was collected on the parent/guardian’s age, education, literacy, and religion. Questions were asked about the walking time and distance to the nearest primary and secondary schools, as well as household support of and participation in school activities. Parent/guardians were also asked about their views on school quality, the benefits and disadvantages of schooling, and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS education. In addition, information was collected on each primary school attended by the children for whom the parent/guardian responded, including the school type, location, and the reason for selection of that school.

The Eligible Child Questionnaire collected different kinds of information about each eligible child age 4-16, depending on the child’s schooling status. While the subject of the Eligible Child Questionnaire was the individual child and his/her schooling, the respondent for the questionnaire was the child’s parent/guardian, as the purpose of the questionnaire was to collect information on issues from the parent/guardian’s perspective. Data were collected on the following topics, according to a child’s schooling status:
• Schooling background and participation during the 2003-2004 school year (attended school during the 2003-2004 school year, dropped out of school, or never attended school)
• Frequency of and reasons for pupil absenteeism, household expenditures on schooling, and other costs of schooling (for children who attended school during the 2002-2003 school year)
• Reasons for dropping out of school (for children who had dropped out of school)
• Reasons for not attending school during the 2003-2004 school year (for children who had never attended school)
• Children’s eating patterns

The Independent Child Questionnaire was used to interview directly a small percentage of the children age 13-16 in the selected households, rather than collecting information from a parent/guardian respondent. Independent children included those age 13-16 who were the head of the household, or the spouse of the head, or the son-in-law or daughter-in-law of the household head. Because these children did not have a parent/guardian who could answer questions about their schooling decisions, these children were interviewed directly. The same information was collected from these children themselves that otherwise would have been collected in the Eligible Child Questionnaire, and in terms of analysis, the data were grouped with data on other children in the eligible child age range.

The questionnaires were translated from English into three local languages—Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. Pretest training and fieldwork took place from 22 September to 4 October, 2003. For this exercise, six interviewers were trained (two per local language). The questionnaires were tested in Awka and Nibo (in Anambra State), Ibadan (in Oyo State), and Kano (in Kano State) in all languages, including English.