Overview of Sampling and Methods

Community and Household Sampling

The study is designed to maximize use of existing data sets on poverty, governance and service provision. In countries with panel data at the household or community level, the sampling areas and households in the panel will be revisited to the fullest extent possible given limitations due to attrition (e.g. migration or deaths among panel households) and budget. The countries with panel data on which the study is building include Bangladesh, India (Andhra Pradesh), Malawi, Tanzania (Kagera) and Uganda.

In the remaining countries, teams have selected a small number of communities through a comparative case study approach based on stratified random sampling. Each country case is stratified by growth and one other policy variable of relevance.

Policy Focus

Each country study explores one or two key policy issues that shape the dynamics of mobility in their country.  Some examples of the policy focus which the Moving Out of Poverty country studies are exploring include how mobility is affected by: inequality, access to infrastructure, agricultural modernization, social networks, and migration. In addition, a set of countries which have been affected by ongoing or recent conflict is looking at how conflict affects access to economic opportunities. A stratified sampling framework is then developed to guide the random selection of regions and communities that will capture variations on the dimension related to the policy focus (such as an index of access to roads, energy and active markets in the case of infrastructure) and on growth.

The selection of households is designed to capture the four transition groups of interest to the study: those who move out of poverty, the never poor, the chronic poor, and the fallers. A total of 15-20 households will be visited per community, including a substantial number of households that have made the transition out of poverty.

Data Collection Methods Overview

The primary data collection tools are highlighted in the table below. They include household and community questionnaires, focus groups discussions, open ended individual life stories, and key informant interviews with policymakers and community leaders. The household survey gathers information on the household’s status now and ten years ago using four alternative poverty measures: expenditure data, household assets, food security, and self- assessments of current and previous status through a “Ladder of Life” ranking. The qualitative tools gather perceptions from focus groups and individuals on how and why people escape poverty, as well as how people maintain their wealth, fall down into poverty, or remain trapped in poverty.

Data Collection Method

Purpose

Informants

Activity 1. Selective Literature Review

• To provide background to the key growth and poverty puzzles in the country; and
• To help design the study.

Secondary sources

Activity 2. Key Informant Interview or a Workshop: National Timeline

• To identify key policy questions to be addressed by the study, and
• To develop a national timeline of key events and policies that have helped or hindered people’s movements out of poverty.

Various policy experts from government, civil society, & private sector

Activity 3. Community Profile

• To identify community level factors that have helped or hindered movement out of poverty and the overall prosperity of the community over the past 10 years; and
• To quantify and code data emerging from focus discussions based on their ratings of issues ranging from community prosperity to freedom and inequality.

Key informants

Activity 4. Key Informant Interview: Community Timeline

• To understand community level events or factors that have helped or hindered movement out of poverty and the overall prosperity of the community; and
• To gain an understanding of the local context.

2-4 local key informants in a group or separately

Activity 5. Focus Group Discussion:

Ladder of Life

• To identify the range of factors that helps or hinders movement out of poverty or prosperity over time at the community level;
• To identify the range of factors that helps or hinders movement out of poverty or prosperity over time at the household level; and the reasons for movement at the different levels;
• To identify the sequencing and interaction among the factors at the household level that enable movement at different steps of the Ladder of Life; and
• To identify the movement status of specific households in the community.

• 1 Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of adult men

• 1 FGD of adult women

Activity 6. Focus Group Discussion:

Livelihoods, Freedom, Power, Democracy and Local Governance

• To understand trends in economic opportunities for the community;
• To understand the impact of government rules and regulations and other factors on access to economic opportunities;
• To explore people’s understanding of the concepts of freedom, power, and inequality; and how these concepts relate to economic mobility and wellbeing; and
• To explore people’s understanding of democracy and how democracy is working at the local level.

• 1 FGD of adult men

• 1FGD of adult women

Activity 7. Focus Group Discussion: Aspirations of Youth

• To explore youth aspirations for earning a living; and steps they are taking to prepare for their future.
• To explore youth understandings of the concepts of freedom, power, inequality and democracy; and how these concepts relate to economic mobility and wellbeing.

• 1 FGD of male youth

• 1 FGD of female youth

Activity 8. Two Mini Case Studies: Community-Wide Events and Factors Affecting Mobility

Focus Group Discussion: Conflict Timeline and Institutional Mapping

(For countries affected by conflict)

• To provide in-depth analysis from a range of perspectives on two important events or factors affecting the overall economic prosperity of the community over the past ten years.

• To understand public safety conditions and trends over the last ten years, and local mechanisms for ensuring safety and resolving disputes in the community;
• To understand the major conflicts or disputes in the community over the last ten years;
• To assess how conflict affects livelihoods in the community; and
• To examine the functioning of and changes in community institutions in areas affected by conflict.

• Key informants and FGDs

Activity 9. Household Questionnaire

• To identify the range of factors that help or hinder mobility of individuals within the larger context of their households

For countries with panel data : Depending on panel sample size and sampling strategy chosen, the team should revisit panel households and interview an adult member of the household (30-60 years of age). If unable to identify a large enough sample from the panel, individuals may be randomly selected from households identified through the Focus Group Discussion: Ladder of Life that belong to a particular category of movement.

For countries without panel data : Select informants based on the household sorting exercise undertaken during the Focus Group Discussion: Ladder of Life.

Activity 10. Open-Ended Interview: Individual Life Stories

• To understand the life stories of how and why some individuals escape from poverty, and the factors and processes that led to their escape;
• To understand the life stories of how and why some individuals manage to maintain their wealth, and the factors and processes that helped in maintenance of their status;
• To understand the life stories of how and why some individuals remain trapped in chronic poverty, and the factors and processes that kept them in poverty;
• To understand the life stories of how and why some individuals fall into poverty, and the factors and processes that led to their decline into poverty; and
• To understand the factors and processes that come together for accumulation or depletion of assets and savings.

Adults (men or women) who are 30 to 60 years of age. It is important that a Household Questionnaire be completed with each informant with whom the Individual Life Stories tool is conducted.

Identification of informants follows a similar process as selection of informants for the questionnaire.

Study Scope and Design

What makes the study unique?