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credible conversations © Ask Afrika 2012
The challenges of
quantitative data
collection in Africa
Prepared by: Dr Amelia Richards
Date: 8 July 2013
Points for discussion Culture
Language
Infrastructure
Secondary data for weighting & Lit review
Social Economic variables
Natural calamities
General considerations
Solutions
Culture
The challenges of quantitative data Collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
• Most regions of Africa, it is difficult to plan and
conduct fieldwork with uniformity: cultural and
religious beliefs
• Gender specific interviews
• Get permission from head of household/church
leader/leader
• Dress appropriately
• Age: How old are you? – rude/foreign concept
• Many sensitive issues are taboo: Income, HIV,
sexual behaviour etc.
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture
• Over-claims: new product tests higher levels of
“willingness to use products”
• Why me? Research is a very foreign concept
• Getting people to understand the need for
Research
• “Paper shy”/“Technology Shy”
• “Over-willingness to participate”: incentives
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture (continue)
Language The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Language
• Translations: Questionnaire length
• Translations: Number of languages needed
• Limited vocabulary: Insurance for example
• Positive versus Negative adjectives
• Scale differences: “I like it, I like it very much
and “I love it”?
Infrastructure The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Infrastructure
• Poor roads: Impacting on time and costs.
• Travelling: Vast distances to cover to rural
areas
• Public transportation: poor/ unreliable/
dangerous
• Supportive infrastructure: Low telephone
penetration, postal services, etc.
increase costs for back-check .
• Confidentiality of interviews
Secondary data for
Weighting & Lit review
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Secondary data for weighting & Lit review
• Lack of a sampling frame
• Difficulty to access census data
• Weighting variables
• Pressure for lower level estimates:
aggregated data to district level
• Literature review
• Weighting
Socio Economic
Variables
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Socio Economic Variables
• Difficulties establish standard measures of
social economic standards
• LSMs: There are arguments for and against
the variables used e.g. “vacuum cleaner”
• Income: Money matters are top secret -
Many census bureau’s do not capture
monthly income as a variable owing to high
refusal, inconsistency in data, difficult to
administer
Natural Calamities The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Natural Calamities
• Torrential rains: cutting off certain districts/areas
• Insecurity in certain regions
• Drought/starvation: Especially affecting the
nomadic tribes, sense of well-being, can you
interview a hungry man on which flavour of juice
he prefers?
• Outbreaks of contagious disease: impacts on
respondents and fieldworkers.
• Tribal tension
General Considerations The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Culture The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
General Considerations
• Public strikes
• Power cuts in Africa
• Women & money
• Lack of research expertise and capacity
within local research companies and often
low quality standards in place
• Some of the secondary sources do not
factor in double counts, and this could be a
big factor amongst the “elite banked” who
hold multiple accounts
• Data is not always in the public domain “top
secret”
• Focus is rarely cross- boarder yet a lot of
Africa Countries have regional players
Solutions The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Solutions • Be aware of cultural/language differences
• Localise questionnaires / country specific
• Consider infrastructure upfront (costing and
project plan phase)
• Monitor political and social situations closely
• Do not only rely upon government statistics;
NGOs (e.g. IRC) have excellent reports on
social movements and situations
• Contact NGOs who have completed
research in the area. Find out who they
worked with and difficulties involved
The challenges of quantitative data collection in Africa
Solutions (continue)
• However well you have chosen your
research methodologies and targeted your
respondents, your master plan can collapse
when handed over to the wrong fieldwork
partner - Reliable/Trusted field partner
• Be on the ground