Questionnaire design ALCS 2013 14 Main Report English 20151222

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2.3 Questionnaire design

Since 2003, the successive survey rounds incorporated an increasing number of questions. This continued even to the extent that the interview burden and workloads in data processing and analysis overreached the capacity of fieldworkers, respondents and CSO staff. The need to compress all information requirements into one survey that was conducted at irregular intervals was reduced when the Afghanistan National Statistical Plan ANSP CSO 2010 was formulated. The ANSP presented a medium-term perspective that anticipated the implementation of NRVA – now ALCS – as the national multi-purpose survey of Afghanistan on an annual basis. 4 Rather than including all questions and topics every year, the principle of producing information on a rotating basis was introduced. While each survey round should provide a core set of key indicators, successive rounds could add or expanded different modules to provide more detailed information on specific subjects. In the series of consultations with stakeholders in 2010, agreement was reached to re-design the NRVA data collection and questionnaires according to this rotation principle. This implied that meeting information needs and survey implementation could be achieved at the same time and in a more sustainable way. Annex II provides a summary of contents of the successive survey rounds. The core of ALCS 2013-14 is a household questionnaire consisting of 17 subject matter sections, 11 administered by male interviewers and answered by the male household representative usually the head of household, and six asked by female interviewers to female respondents. In addition, the questionnaire included three modules for identification and monitoring purposes see Table 2.1 . On average the time required to answer the household questionnaire was one to one-and-a-half hour. In addition to household information, data were collected at community level through a male Shura questionnaire, addressing the topics presented in Table 2.2 . Annex III provides the set of ALCS 2013-14 questionnaires. Table 2.1: ALCS 2013-14 household questionnaire modules subject matter modules in bold Male modules Female modules Household identification Household income Household identification Process monitoring and expenditure Missing household members Household roster Household shocks and General living conditions Housing and amenities coping strategies and household decisions Livestock Education Food security Agriculture Labour Child labour Household assets Migration Gender Out migration Maternal and child health 4 Meanwhile, experience has learned that an annual schedule of ALCS is not feasible, given other data collection activities and limited capacity of CSO. 5 Table 2.2: ALCS 2013-14 male Shura questionnaire modules subject matter modules in bold Male Shura questionnaire modules Community identification Process monitoring Community access and access to facilities Community projects Community development priorities

2.4 Pilot training and pilot survey