1. “What is a household?” A constant debate at each interviewer training. Formal definition of people living under the same roof and eating from the same kitchen for at least 6 of the prior 12 months does not cut it with our interviewers.
Sonalde Desai
1,992 posts
Sonalde Desai
@SonaldeDesai
Data junkie & Prof. of Sociology University of Maryland & NCAER. Living a life consumed by India Human Development Survey fieldwork.
- 1. Last interview for India Human Development Survey-3 took place yesterday. Our grateful thanks to over 47000 families for generously opening their homes and hearts to our interviewers once again. 🙏🏽🙏🏽 to over 8000 schools and health centres for taking the time to talk to us.
- For much of my life, I was a mother of sons; outnumbered by men in my family. Sex-ratio in our family flipped once our son realized he was born with the wrong gender. With Naomi, her spouse Rachel and daughter Leni, it is women 4: men 2 in our family. 💕 you & proud of you Naomi
- Why is Indian Census not being conducted this year, post COVID? As a data geek, I can happily chant we need data. But mainly teachers are on Census duty and India has had one of the longest school closures. What takes priority? Separate pool of enumerators possible?
- 1/8 Panic in IHDS war room! Interviewer calls in, “Seema” an unmarried woman of age 47 is to be asked marriage/fertility questions according to the computer program. But single women are not to be asked these questions. What to do?
- Friends of IHDS please circulate. @ncaer is looking for several post-docs, including 1 for IHDS (based in Delhi). Unique opportunity to work with IHDS-3 data as it is being collected.
- 1. Game of Thrones has nothing on the Great Indian Poverty Game (GIPG) this Republic Day. Synopsys seasons 1-3, preview season 4:
- Many respondents for IHDS-3 (now in field) remember interviewers visiting them in prior round. We send New Year's card with a small calendar to thank respondents for sharing their lives with us. As one interviewer writes, "IHDS KA NEW YEAR CARD BHI 1 GHAR PAR MILA HAI" 👋
- Just adding to the discussion, an article on Global Hunger Index and nutrition policy I wrote in @IndianExpress. Debates on this flawed index take attention away from very real need to improve nutrition and reduce child mortality
In June this year @BBCMoreOrLess got in touch with me about hunger data in India and we looked at the Global Hunger Index for it. As with all of Indian data, the index should be more carefully looked at and needs better reporting. The episode is here bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3c… - Replying to @rglennerMy pet peeve is submitting an article on India and being asked to draw out implications for generalizability to other contexts. No one writing on the US is asked to do this. Indian population=4xUS population ??
- Computers can't keep up with life! Household roster generated yesterday, respondent gave birth in the night and is eager to participate in the survey now (huh!!). Serious juggad needed to count the newborn. I am going to send a personal gift to this IHDS baby 🎂
- Love them or hate them, sarees bring together a host of emotions and symbols - from feminism to family to future of textile arts to economics of extinction. Read my take on six yards of fabric that few people can ignore
- Fascinating paper by Esha Bhatnagar that documents decline in overwhelming preference for sons that has shaped India’s demographic landscape @PopFoundIndia
