Data Collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

The pretest for the survey took place in Minsk city and Minsk region during September 2005.

Training for the fieldwork was conducted for 5 days in early November 2005. 

The data were collected by 14 teams; each was comprised of 4-5 interviewers, one driver, one editor/measurer and a supervisor. Two teams were working in each of the 7 regions (oblasts).  Fieldwork began in November 2005 and concluded in December 2005.

Interviews averaged 40 minutes for the household questionnaire, 25 minutes for the women's questionnaire, and 30 for the under five children's questionnaire (excluding the anthropometry).  Interviews were conducted  in Russian.

14 staff members of The System of the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis provided overall fieldwork coordination and supervision.  The overall field coordinators were Galina Gasyuk  and Svetlana Novoselova.

Ministry of Statistics and Analysis  Republic of Belarus Ministry of Statistics and Analysis  Republic of Belarus Ministry of Statistics and Analysis  Republic of Belarus The Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus

Research Institute of Statistics

Interviewing was conducted by teams of interviewers.  Each interviewing team comprised of 4-5 interviewers, one driver, one editor/measurer and a supervisor.  Each teams used a 4 wheel dirve vehicle to travel from cluster to cluster (and where necessary within cluster).

The role of the supervisor was to coordinate field data collection activities, including management of the field teams, supplies and equipment, finances, maps and listings, coordinate with local authorities concerning the survey plan and make arrangements for accomodation and travel.  Additionally, the field supervisor assigned the work to the interviewers, spot checked work, maintained field control documents, and sent completed questionnaires and progress reports to the central office

The field editor was responsible for reviewing each questionnaire at the end of the day, checking for missed questions, skip errors, fields incorrectly completed, and checking for inconsistencies in the data.  The field editor also observed interviews and conducted review sessions with interviewers.

Responsibilities of the supervisors and field editors are described in the Instructions for Supervisors and Field Editors, together with the different field controls that were in place to control the quality of the fieldwork.