TY - JOUR
T1 - Increased Age Heaping in Mobile Phone Surveys Conducted in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries
AU - Helleringer, Stéphane
AU - Lau, Samantha W.
AU - Luhar, Shammi
AU - Banda, Jethro
AU - Lankoande, Bruno
AU - Tlhajoane, Malebogo
AU - Reniers, Georges
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - age heaping
KW - data visualization
KW - low and middle-income countries
KW - remote data collection
KW - surveys
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150489455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85150489455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/23780231231158766
DO - 10.1177/23780231231158766
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85150489455
SN - 2378-0231
VL - 9
JO - Socius
JF - Socius
ER -