Rural household data collection in developing countries : designing instruments and methods for collecting general household information data

It is emphasized that a clear operational definition of "household" and "head of the household" should be developed before conducting the survey. Similarly, in collecting data on household assets, it may be necessary to distinguish between ownership of and access to assets. Our experience is that disaggregation by land type is the key to data collection on landholding and that special attention should be given to differences in land quality during questionnaire design. Provision should also be made for updating both the household characteristics and asset information. A carefully planned presurvey exploring the complexities of household structure, indigenous classification of landholding, and the nature of ownership and control of land and other assets contributes substantially to the quality of data collected. (Author abstract)