Evidence from Nepal: Can school children reliably collect rural household data in developing countries?

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Active youth engagement in program design, data collection, and analysis: strong positive data

Proposal

Household surveys are an important tool for assessing the status or trends of rural households, farms, and communities, and for conducting research. Conducting surveys in rural communities in developing countries, such as Nepal, is expensive and logistically challenging. Typically staff, graduate students, or professional interviewers have been involved in household data collection.

The organization investigated two comparative models of data collection; primary school children efficiently collected household or farm data as part of their homework versus trained graduate students steeped in the theory of change, the program design and collection methods. The organization hypothesized that primary school students can collect accurate data and therefore it should not be significantly different from the data collected by trained graduate interviewers.

The presenter will share evidence and results comparing the two models with accuracy, efficiency and analytical results. Lessons that emerge out of the study focus on the importance of prioritizing monitoring and evaluation, the potential of youth to carry out effective monitoring and evaluation, and the need for researchers to engage respectfully with communities and participants. As a part of the discussion the design and challenges will be described and forward looking recommendation.

Author

• David Bunn, Univ of CA - Davis