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FAQ

Listed below are answers to frequently asked questions on the MICS programme. The information provided ranges from a general description of what MICS is and where the programme operates, to a list of the types of indicators and areas covered by MICS surveys, and the measures taken to ensure that data is accurately collected.

General information
What is MICS?

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) is an international household survey programme developed by UNICEF in the 1990s. Since then, close to 330 surveys have been implemented in over 115 countries. The sixth round of MICS has about 70 surveys, making it the largest round and includes a range of low, middle and high-income countries and many which are in post-emergency periods.  

What information is collected in MICS?

MICS is designed to collect statistically sound, internationally comparable estimates of about 130 indicators to assess the situation of children, women and men in the areas of health, education, and child protection. MICS is a rich source of data on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), collecting about 33 SDG indicators.

What are the topics and indicators covered by MICS?

MICS covers topics and indicators related to children’s well-being, women, and households, ranging from health and education to child protection and water and sanitation. In the most recent rounds of MICS, additional data are also collected on men. Data can be disaggregated for young people age 15-24 and by gender.  

To learn more about the topics covered in MICS and the complete list of indicators, visit the Tools pages.

Fieldwork/Data collection
Do MICS surveys collect and/or release GIS data?

In the sixth round of MICS, countries have the option to collect GIS data on the location of survey clusters where interviews take place. Even if countries do not collect such data in a MICS survey, such data are usually available from the majority of national statistical offices which usually have digitized maps of cluster locations through their census cartography. The MICS Programme therefore advises researchers interested in spatial analysis to contact the individual statistical offices or other implementing agencies with requests. Contact details are typically in final reports and with the final datasets. One needs the “key” that matches the cluster numbers in the datasets with the enumeration areas in the Census maps. Additionally, one must be granted access to Census maps and, for any map presentation, must incorporate a random offset of the cluster location. .

Does MICS collect data only on children under 5 years of age?

MICS collects data on all children of all ages that live in households. MICS uses several questionnaires to collect these data. Data for children under age 5 years are collected in a separate questionnaire where data are provided by mothers (and in the case of children whose mothers are deceased or who live in a different household to the child, a caregiver). In addition to the questionnaire for children under five, MICS also collects data on children age five to seventeen through use of a questionnaire introduced in MICS6. Such data were typically collected in previous rounds using the household questionnaire (e.g. for education, child labour and child discipline). Retrospective data on women and men during their adolescents are also collected through the individual questionnaires for women and men age 15-49 for topics such as early marriage and child bearing. 

How long does MICS fieldwork typically last?

This depends on the sample size of each survey, as well as the number of fieldworkers and the number of households that are completed per day. On average, fieldwork is completed in 2 to 4 months in most MICS surveys.

What measures does MICS take to ensure the data are collected accurately?

The data collection teams include a supervisor, a measurer, and varying numbers of female and male interviewers depending on the overall workload. No interviewer can collect any information alone i.e. they must all go as a team to collect data with the supervisor checking the map to ensure they are approaching the correctly selected household. The information from the individual questionnaire is also cross referenced to other questionnaires completed in that household for accuracy.

The field supervisors monitor the survey teams during the entire fieldwork process and observe interviews to ensure the MICS guidelines are followed. Also, supervisors are expected to do at least one spot check on households to verify the completed questionnaires and ensure that correct information is recorded. For a small proportion of households, the supervisor is expected to re-interview them on a limited question set to corroborate that an accurate interview has occurred.

Further, data are entered during fieldwork onto tablets (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing, CAPI). The use of CAPI also improves data collection as the data can be checked for consistency as it is being entered and corrected immediately. Many countries in MICS6 are using capitalizing on the continuous data flow from tablets to a cloud server for storage by producing visual checks of the data which can flag key issues on team performance. This can be fed back immediately to the field and corrective action can be taken while the survey is ongoing.

How does MICS deal with refusals?

If an interview is refused in a selected household, the supervisor of the team is responsible for returning to that household to explain the importance of the survey and to encourage the respondent to participate. If the household still refuses to be interviewed, the result of the household interview is marked as ‘refused’ and the field teams cannot replace this household with another. In other words, MICS does not allow replacement in such cases. Ultimately, such households are accounted as non-response during sample weight calculations.

How does MICS deal with unoccupied households?

If a selected household is not occupied during the fieldwork team’s visit, the interviewer is responsible for returning to this household at least two more times. After repeated visits if there is still no one available, the result of the household interview is marked accordingly and the field teams cannot replace this household with another. In other words, MICS does not allow replacement of the selected households even if there is no respondent at home during the times the household is visited.

In some cultures, it would be impossible to ask some of the questions to women who have never married. How do you deal with this problem?

This is correct – in some countries, mainly in the Middle Eastern region, some topics/questions are socially or culturally unacceptable. In such countries, the MICS approach is to skip a small number of modules in the questionnaires customized for that country so that topics/questions pertaining to subjects such as sexual behaviour, fertility and contraceptive use are not discussed with women who have never married. In very few countries, this issue has been resolved by confining the Individual Women’s Questionnaires to ever married women only. However, MICS does not recommend this.

Sampling
Are all MICS surveys representative at the national level?

No, some MICS surveys cover a specific population group in a country, such as the Roma population in Serbia, or the Palestinians in Lebanon, and some others cover only a certain geographical area within a country, such as the Sindh province in Pakistan or the Dakar survey in Senegal. While these are not representative at the national level, they are still representative at different geographic levels or of different population groups.

Are some MICS surveys conducted on purposive samples?

No, regardless of the scope of the survey (national, or pertaining to a specific population group or geographical area within a country), all MICS surveys are based on representative samples, selected by using probabilistic, random samples.

Biomarkers
Does MICS include biomarkers, such as blood testing for HIV or parasetemia, or urine tests?

In the standard MICS questionnaires and data collection tools, biomarkers are not included. However, in some MICS surveys, these have been added at the request of the government – in which case, technical support has been provided by other partner agencies, such as ICF International. Some examples are MICS surveys in Central African Republic, Ghana and Sao Tome and Principe.

Does MICS do any other biological tests?

MICS has for nearly all rounds collected anthropometric data for children under five years, measuring their height and weight. In MICS6, a new test for E.coli was pioneered and adopted for use in surveys to measure the level of risk households face from water collected at its source and water used for drinking in the household. Further details are available online.

Funding and cost
How much does a MICS survey cost?

It is very difficult to come up with an average cost for a MICS survey, as this depends on a very large number of factors, ranging from the unit costs, transportation costs, types of activities that need to be carried out, the sample size, questionnaire size, and the like.

UNICEF provides funding support to governments and the governments conduct the surveys. Is that correct?

This is not correct. UNICEF does provide some funding support to MICS surveys in most cases, but there are increasingly more surveys where all survey costs are covered by governments. The contribution of other international and bilateral agencies is also significant. UNICEF and government contributions are typically the largest funders of MICS surveys.

Data processing
What methods does MICS use to collect and process data?

In MICS6, nearly all surveys use Windows tablets to collect data from respondents. All surveys used CSPro for the data entry application. Paper questionnaires are only used in the unlikely event that tablets fail in the field or there are issues of insecurity. Data are entered into the tablets during the interview and undergo rigid checks for quality during the interview process, checking and cross-checking data across the interview. Data are uploaded to a secure cloud server which is accessed by the national implementing partner and UNICEF. Data are aggregated cluster by cluster to create the final datasets and are processed using CSPro and analysed using SPSS.

Surveys/Datasets
I recently read about a MICS survey, why is it not on your list of surveys?

The Surveys page of the MICS website covers all surveys part of the Global MICS Programme, which are conducted with technical support from the MICS team. MICS tools can be downloaded and used – either partially or completely – for the implementation of any survey; therefore, even if a survey report mentions UNICEF as a partner and carries the MICS logo, and the text, questionnaires, as well as other documents appear to indicate a MICS survey, such a survey can be considered part of the MICS Programme only if it is listed on the Surveys page. Typically, the absence of a survey from this list means that it was conducted without technical support from the MICS Programme; however, this makes no indication regarding its quality. We often use the term “MICS-type” to label such surveys if the process and content are essentially in line with those used in the MICS Programme.

I have seen certain surveys called DHS-MICS or similar. Are these surveys done in collaboration between DHS and MICS?

Not necessarily. Generally this terminology has been used on a limited number of DHS surveys that included one or more MICS-specific modules, such as Senegal DHS 2010-11. Unless there is involvement of both survey programmes, MICS discourages this labelling as it tends to confuse the audience. Surveys that can be considered MICS surveys are only those which are conducted as part of the Global MICS Programme, follow the Technical Assistance Framework of MICS and adhere to the principles of the methodology. The best way to verify whether a survey was part of the MICS Programme is to look for it on the Surveys page of the MICS website. Very few surveys can truly be considered MICS-DHS surveys, for instance the Lao 2011-12 survey, but generally one survey programme must be the foundation on which the entire survey is run.

Can I have access to the datasets before the report is launched?

The datasets become available for public sharing only after the dissemination of the survey results at the country level, which includes the launch of the survey report. The period between the time of the launch of the survey report and the availability of the datasets varies from one survey to another but typically happens after a minimum of 2-3 months following the launch of the results.

How do I access MICS datasets?

Access to MICS datasets is provided only for completed surveys. Before you can download MICS datasets, you need to be registered as a MICS data user. Dataset access is only granted for legitimate research purposes. When you click on the survey datasets you want to download you will be directed to the page for registering and you may immediately download them after logging in.

Is access to the datasets free?

Yes, full access to the datasets is provided free of charge. However, you are requested to send copies of all reports and publications based on the downloaded MICS data to the UNICEF office and the government partner which implemented the survey.

The status of the dataset I want to download shows 'Not available'. What can I do to access them?

If the status of a survey dataset is shown as 'Not available', this means that the MICS team does not have a copy of the dataset for public sharing. If, however, the status is shown as 'Not yet available', this means that the dataset is expected to be available either soon or upon the completion of the survey (once the final report is published and the status of the survey changes to 'Completed'). For a few surveys, the status of the datasets is shown as ‘Restricted,’ which means sharing of the datasets is not allowed by the survey implementing agency or the governance body.

Once I have downloaded datasets of MICS surveys, can I identify individuals or households?

No, the survey datasets are fully anonymized – which means that names of individuals, addresses, and other information that would potentially enable a data user to identify an individual or household that participated in the survey are deleted.

All downloadable datasets seem to be in SPSS format. Can I get datasets in SAS, Stata or other formats? Or in Excel?

All datasets are distributed in SPSS format. Datasets are not available in other formats. However, it is quite easy to import SPSS datasets into other statistical software packages.

How do I merge individual data sets of a MICS survey?

Please download the document Guidelines for Merging Data Files of a MICS Survey to read a detailed description of how the individual data files of a MICS survey can be merged. 

Questionnaire design
Are the same questionnaires used globally?

MICS makes available a set of standard questionnaires that countries can customize to their needs. The standard MICS6 questionnaires are: household questionnaire (which includes a form for water quality testing), questionnaire for individual women age 15-49, questionnaire for individual men age 15-49, questionnaire for children under age 5 years and a questionnaire for children age 5-17 years. At the country level, steering and technical committees review the standard questionnaires and adapt them according to the specific data needs by selecting modules and questions applicable to their setting. Countries, at times, have included additional questions to their surveys, when this is technically possible and advisable.

Respondents
Who are the respondents to MICS questionnaires?

The respondent to the household questionnaire could be any knowledgeable adult member living in the household. Women and men age 15-49 are administered more detailed, individual questionnaires. The questionnaire for children under age five and children 5-17 is administered to the mother of the child. If the mother is deceased or does not live in the same household as the child, then the primary caretaker of the child is identified and interviewed.