Course Work for research methods

Research Methods course work. A sample survey is a statistical inquiry based on a sample from which influence is made about the population characteristics. The various methods devised to collect birth, death, civil status and other relevant data for the basic demographic measures in sample surveys are broadly discussed in this section . A dual records system is the simultaneous collection of vital events, mainly births and deaths and the appropriate exposed-to-the-risk population, by two collecting methods which, ideally, are independent of each other: (a) a continuous vital event recording procedure which may be other than the civil registration system; and (b) a periodic household sample survey conducted in the same geographical area. The former records vital events on a current basis in the sample households, which may involve regular visits to the household, or it, may rely on a network of informers, the recorder verifying the occurrence of the events. Matching of the events reported by the two procedures provides methods of improving the estimate of the total number of vital events. This is also a good data collection approach for estimating current levels and patterns of fertility and mortality and natural and total population growth rate at both national and subnational levels by the direct method, that is, without relying upon indirect techniques for estimation. But the cost and the matching problems are factors that have to be carefully considered.

A follow-up survey (or multi-round survey or multi- phase survey) is a type of survey in which households included in it are repeatedly interviewed in the second, third, fourth or more visits, to obtain information on vital events by noting the changes in composition of the households that have taken place between successive visits. This is done to collect current data on fertility, marriages, in-and-out migration and mortality in order to avoid as much as possible memory lapse and misunderstanding of the reference period. However the drawbacks are large sample needed, timing, cost and administration.

A single round retrospective survey is a type of demographic survey containing questions, related to the occurrence of vital events during a specified period preceding the date of interview and the respondents are interviewed once. One type has made use of a shorter questionnaire similar to the census type. The other has used an individual extended questionnaire combined with a shorter or extended, household questionnaire. The individual extended questionnaire is intended for a subsample of the population only, usually women of child-bearing age. In both, the households in the sample were interviewed once. The adoption of an extended household questionnaire with retrospective questions on fertility and mortality, has given the opportunity for mutual evaluation and plausibility of the parameters they yield. A retrospective survey of this type is also more suitable than a census to paraphrase the questions in a most desirable way. http://stats.oecd.org http://unstats.un.org