The Survey Research Center (SRC) maintains a 20-year partnership with the Institute for Social and Environmental Research, Nepal (ISER-N). The Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) has used a combination of ethnographic and survey research methods to gather 171 neighborhood histories, 142 school histories, 118 health service histories, 20 bus route histories, household farming practices, family planning histories, and household composition in Western Chitwan, Nepal.
The Survey Research Center International Unit (SRC IU) recently assisted in developing computer assisted interview (CAI) applications for all household registry activities for the Chitwan Valley Family Study. The activities included updating a household roster, which consists of 4 separate tables, at regular intervals (e.g. every 6 months), then, based on information collected as part of the roster, administering various ‘individual’ questionnaires (Away Sheet, Marital Supplement, Family Planning Sheet) to household members who have had changes in status. The activities also included a household census for any new families that move into the survey area. The scope of this new project included developing procedures and systems for automating the preload process, so that interviewers are provided with updated information in the Blaise applications that can then be edited during the interview.
In addition to the household registry and multiple individual questionnaire applications, SRC IU and SRO developed an electronic sample management system that allows supervisors to assign cases to interviewers, interviewers to review and access their assigned cases, transfer cases to other interviewers, and transmit data to a centralized location for review and reporting. The CAI applications were developed and tested in English, then imported the Nepalese translations.