Rural household data collection in developing countries : designing instruments and methods for collecting farm production data

The discussion focuses on helping the researcher who has fairly well-defined research ideas to better visualize the steps necessary for collecting farm production data by raising conceptual and organizational issues that will be faced during the collection process. A wide range of data collection strategies is reviewed for both data-intensive studies that concentrate on production and technological issues, as well as less intensive studies that are limited to measuring the contribution of farming activities to overall household income. Both survey-based and recordkeeping methodologies are discussed and the tradeoffs of each approach are considered. Examples of survey and recordkeeping instruments provide illustrations of both successful and unsuccessful forms; the merits and weaknesses of the sample forms and associated data collection methods are critiqued. (Author abstract)