Entwisle and Coles explore the potential of fertility and family planning surveys as a source of secondary data on the roles of women in development, with specific reference to the case of Nigeria. They modify and apply a role framework to organized survey materials from 3 such surveys fielded in Nigeria to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Questionnaires from 3 surveys were analyzed: the Family, Fertility, and Family Planning Survey 1971-1973, the Lagos Parity Study 1976, and the Nigeria Fertility Survey 1981-1982. These surveys, although directed toward women, have largely been ignored as a source of information about women. The authors conclude that, despite their limitations, the surveys add a new dimension to knowledge available on Nigerian women from ethnographies, time-use studies, and focused biographies and, moreover, they provide critical baseline data for the study of change. They give specific attention to 3 surveys but argue that their characterization applies in general outline to other fertility and family planning surveys undertaken in Nigeria and, indeed, elsewhere in the 3rd World. (author's modified) - See more at: http://www.popline.org/node/358821#sthash.ARlMIAln.dpuf