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Interviewers learn to conduct water quality tests.
Credit: ©UNICEF HQ/2015/Benali |
STANN CREEK, BELIZE – Much excitement is being generated amongst a team of over 40 interviewers, supervisors, and facilitators in Belize for the MICS field test. The purpose of the field test is to test new tools, refine existing ones, and compare how alternative forms of the tools function. The exercise is hosted by the Statistical Institute of Belize and supported by UNICEF, the Belize Ministry of Health and Ministry of Human Development, with additional participation from the World Health Organization.
16 interviewers and supervisors, the majority of whom implemented the Belize MICS5, are being trained on the methodology for the field test. The field test uses two main methods: field testing – where field teams implement the questionnaires and protocols – and qualitative research, which uses feedback from interviewers through debriefings and focus groups, structured observations, and cognitive interviews of respondents. The results of these will be used to influence the tools for the next round of MICS.
During the training, Ms. Andrea Peters, an interviewer, comments: “We are noticing improvements in some of the questions compared to the way they were formulated in MICS5. They have been simplified, yet they will collect the same information.” Further, Ms. Jacqueline Montique Small, Demographer at the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) and MICS Coordinator for the Belize 2015 MICS survey, states: “The Statistical Institute of Belize is very pleased to be collaborating with UNICEF in the testing of the new MICS instruments. Belize has been involved in and has been benefiting from the MICS process for about a decade now, and this survey has been an invaluable source of data for measuring many aspects of Belize’s national development progress. One of SIB’s obligations is to ensure that we produce data that is internationally comparable, and of the highest standard; therefore, as we move into this new era of the Sustainable Development Goals, we are excited that we can be involved in the fine-tuning of what will be one of the major sources of data for measuring global and national progress towards the SDGs.”
Below are some additional photographs from the training (click to enlarge):
Stay tuned as we publish our next news entry with details from the field.