Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries
Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the number of surveys conducted remotely by mobile phone in low-income and middle-income countries has increased rapidly. This shift has helped sustain data collection despite restrictions on mobility and interactions. It might also allow...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Socius |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231158766 |
| _version_ | 1827995052151930880 |
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| author | Stéphane Helleringer Samantha W. Lau Shammi Luhar Jethro Banda Bruno Lankoande Malebogo Tlhajoane Georges Reniers |
| author_facet | Stéphane Helleringer Samantha W. Lau Shammi Luhar Jethro Banda Bruno Lankoande Malebogo Tlhajoane Georges Reniers |
| author_sort | Stéphane Helleringer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the number of surveys conducted remotely by mobile phone in low-income and middle-income countries has increased rapidly. This shift has helped sustain data collection despite restrictions on mobility and interactions. It might also allow collecting data more frequently on important demographic and socioeconomic topics. However, conducting interviews by mobile phone might affect the accuracy of reported data, for example, if respondents have difficulties understanding questions asked remotely, or data collectors have less time to probe and cross-check answers. In this visualization, the authors explore time trends in age heaping, a strong signal of reporting errors, in six African countries. They show that mobile phone surveys have generated noisier data on age than recent household surveys and censuses, thus possibly affecting researchers’ understanding of demographic processes and confounding multivariate analyses of socioeconomic outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-827cffa7f3ee4aaf806edc59bf3866de |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-0231 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Socius |
| spelling | doaj.art-827cffa7f3ee4aaf806edc59bf3866de2023-03-09T12:33:45ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312023-03-01910.1177/23780231231158766Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income CountriesStéphane Helleringer0Samantha W. Lau1Shammi Luhar2Jethro Banda3Bruno Lankoande4Malebogo Tlhajoane5Georges Reniers6New York University–Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesNew York University–Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United KingdomMalawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit, Lilongwe, MalawiInstitut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population, Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United KingdomLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United KingdomSince the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the number of surveys conducted remotely by mobile phone in low-income and middle-income countries has increased rapidly. This shift has helped sustain data collection despite restrictions on mobility and interactions. It might also allow collecting data more frequently on important demographic and socioeconomic topics. However, conducting interviews by mobile phone might affect the accuracy of reported data, for example, if respondents have difficulties understanding questions asked remotely, or data collectors have less time to probe and cross-check answers. In this visualization, the authors explore time trends in age heaping, a strong signal of reporting errors, in six African countries. They show that mobile phone surveys have generated noisier data on age than recent household surveys and censuses, thus possibly affecting researchers’ understanding of demographic processes and confounding multivariate analyses of socioeconomic outcomes.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231158766 |
| spellingShingle | Stéphane Helleringer Samantha W. Lau Shammi Luhar Jethro Banda Bruno Lankoande Malebogo Tlhajoane Georges Reniers Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries Socius |
| title | Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries |
| title_full | Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries |
| title_fullStr | Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries |
| title_short | Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries |
| title_sort | increased age heaping in mobile phone surveys conducted in low income and middle income countries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231158766 |
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