Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia

The paucity of reliable and timely household consumption data in many low- and middle-income countries have made it practically impossible to assess how global poverty has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the burst of phone surveys, there has been few attempts to collect household consu...

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Autores principales: Abate, Gashaw T., de Brauw, Alan, Hirvonen, Kalle, Wolle, Abdulazize
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143434
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author Abate, Gashaw T.
de Brauw, Alan
Hirvonen, Kalle
Wolle, Abdulazize
author_browse Abate, Gashaw T.
Hirvonen, Kalle
Wolle, Abdulazize
de Brauw, Alan
author_facet Abate, Gashaw T.
de Brauw, Alan
Hirvonen, Kalle
Wolle, Abdulazize
author_sort Abate, Gashaw T.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The paucity of reliable and timely household consumption data in many low- and middle-income countries have made it practically impossible to assess how global poverty has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the burst of phone surveys, there has been few attempts to collect household consumption data. To test the feasibility of collecting consumption data over the phone, we conducted a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia, randomly assigning a balanced sample to either a phone or an in-person interview. The average value of per capita consumption is 23 percent lower, and the estimated poverty headcount is twice as high in the phone survey relative to the in-person survey. We see evidence of survey fatigue occurring early on in phone interviews but not in in-person interviews, and the bias is correlated with household characteristics. While the phone survey mode provides lower costs, it cannot replace in-person surveys for household consumption measurement.
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spelling CGSpace1434342025-12-02T21:03:13Z Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia Abate, Gashaw T. de Brauw, Alan Hirvonen, Kalle Wolle, Abdulazize surveys covid-19 households urban areas food security food consumption information and communication technologies survey design poverty The paucity of reliable and timely household consumption data in many low- and middle-income countries have made it practically impossible to assess how global poverty has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the burst of phone surveys, there has been few attempts to collect household consumption data. To test the feasibility of collecting consumption data over the phone, we conducted a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia, randomly assigning a balanced sample to either a phone or an in-person interview. The average value of per capita consumption is 23 percent lower, and the estimated poverty headcount is twice as high in the phone survey relative to the in-person survey. We see evidence of survey fatigue occurring early on in phone interviews but not in in-person interviews, and the bias is correlated with household characteristics. While the phone survey mode provides lower costs, it cannot replace in-person surveys for household consumption measurement. 2021-12-31 2024-05-22T12:14:07Z 2024-05-22T12:14:07Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143434 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134018 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133766 https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2022/227-0 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Abate, Gashaw Tadesse; de Brauw, Alan; Hirvonen, Kalle; and Wolle, Abdulazize. 2021. Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2087. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134939.
spellingShingle surveys
covid-19
households
urban areas
food security
food consumption
information and communication technologies
survey design
poverty
Abate, Gashaw T.
de Brauw, Alan
Hirvonen, Kalle
Wolle, Abdulazize
Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title_full Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title_fullStr Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title_short Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
title_sort measuring consumption over the phone evidence from a survey experiment in urban ethiopia
topic surveys
covid-19
households
urban areas
food security
food consumption
information and communication technologies
survey design
poverty
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143434
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