Demographic and Health Survey 1991-1992

The training of the field staff was carried out in two classrooms at one location. The training took place at the National Bank of Commerce, Bankers' Training Institute, Iringa Municipality, Iringa Region. Two teams of two persons from the Census Office, with support of staff from DHS/Macro International and the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, conducted the training. Trial interviews were done in the neighborhood of the municipality.

The four weeks of training were devoted to classroom lectures, classroom mock interviews among the trainees, and interviews with invited volunteers from outside the classrooms with everyone listening. At the end of such interviews, trainees were invited to relate their observations as to how the entire interview was conducted and describe any mistakes that were made by the interviewer under the prevailing conditions. Later, the interviewers were taken out of the classroom to the field where each was assigned a household to interview. When all the interviewers were back in the classroom, each was asked to recount some of the experiences he encountered in the administration of the questionnaire, the behavior of the respondent, and how he handled the situation.

During training, a series of assessment tests were given to the interviewers and supervisors. These tests were graded and the results were used in selecting interviewers. Those candidates who bad a better grasp of the questionnaire and were able to detect errors in completed questionnaires were chosen to be field editors.

Two guests were invited to talk to the trainees on family planning and maternal and child health. A staff person from the Tanzania Family Planning Association (UMATI) talked about family planning methods and sources where they can be obtained. Another person who came from the Maternal and Child Health Department in the Regional Hospital of Iringa discussed maternal and child health care and immunization.

Anthropometry was taught for a week and was conducted by a DHS consultant on anthropometry who was assisted by a specialist from the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre. Arrangements were made with the neighboring villages for practice measuring of children below age 5 years and their mothers. All trainees received the anthropometric training.

Supervisors and editors received additional training on their specific duties in the field. The main purpose was to ensure that all the teams would be following a uniform set of procedures.

The forty-eight female interviewers, 8 male interviewers, and 8 editors were selected from the larger pool of trainees at the end of the training course. Eight teams were made up and each team was allocated between two and three regions. Each field team was composed of six female interviewers, one male interviewer, one editor, a supervisor, and a driver (each team had one vehicle).

The main fieldwork began immediately after the training. Teams were dispatched to their respective regions with instructions to introduce themselves to the regional, district, ward, and village leaders before beginning the interviews. When a team got into the cluster (enumeration area), it had to identify itself to the local leaders before interviews would begin. This was necessitated by the fact that, in order to get the required maximum cooperation, the leaders bad to be aware of the project and so inform the people about it. This is the usual practice in Tanzania whenever there is anything that involves the participation of the people, be it in urban or rural areas.

The fieldwork for the main survey was conducted in the period between October 1991 and March 1992. Thirty households were selected for interview in each cluster (EA). Women and men for the individual interview were identified during the household interview. Team supervisors located the housing units and assigned the selected households to the interviewers. Completed household and individual questionnaires were handed over to the field editors who checked to ensure that all relevant questions were recorded correctly, that the skip pattern instructions were followed properly, and that responses were internally consistent. The editing work was done before the team left the EA so that the interviewer could go back to the respondent to resolve any errors.

The supervisors were required to ensure that all the selected households and eligible women and men in an EA were interviewed, and that assignment sheets for the interviewers and supervisors were duly filled. The questionnaires and other control forms were submitted to the Head Office in Dares Salaam for data entry.