Paul Glewwe

Margaret E. Grosh

Comprehensive and informative document on the design, implementation, and use of household surveys in developing countries.

Designing Household Survey Questionnaires for Developing Countries : Lessons from 15 Years of the Living Standards Measurement Study

Juan Muñoz

This manual explains the planning process, technical procedures, and standards used in Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) household surveys, including what these procedures entail, why they are used, and how they can be implemented. It provides a factual description of different procedures and standards as well as their purpose and an explanation of their distinctions. The report offers explicit instructions, along with examples of ways LSMS survey procedures have been implemented in different countries. Although the lessons presented here are derived from LSMS surveys, many of them are applicable to surveys in general, and especially to those that are complex or especially concerned with quality control. Topics covered in this manual include technical aspects of questionnaire formatting and testing, methods of implementing sample design, and fieldwork and data management procedures that have been successful. The report sketches ideas about which directions to pursue in analyzing data, presents a brief description of how to assess local statistical capacity, and includes sample work plans and budgets to give surveyors estimates of how long each process will take.

A Manual for Planning and Implementing the Living Standards Measurement Study Survey

David Coady

John Hoddinott

Drawing on a database of more than one hundred anti-poverty interventions in 47 countries, 'Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries' provides a general review of experiences with methods used to target interventions in transition and developing countries. Written for policymakers and program managers in developing countries, in donor agencies, and in NGOs who have responsibility for designing interventions that reach the poor, it conveys what targeting options are available, what results can be expected as well as information that will assist in choosing among them and in their implementation. Key messages are: - While targeting 'works' - the median program transfers 25 percent more to the poor than would a universal allocation - targeting performance around the world is highly variable. - Means testing, geographic targeting, and self-selection based on a work requirement are the most robustly progressive methods. Proxy means testing, community-based selection of individuals and demographic targeting to children show good results on average, but with considerable variation. - Demographic targeting to the elderly, community bidding, and self-selection based on consumption show limited potential for good targeting. - There is no single preferred method for all types of programs or all country contexts. Successful targeting depends critically on how a method is implemented. The CD-ROM includes the database of interventions, an annotated bibliography (PDF) and Spanish and Russian translations of the book (PDFs).

Margaret E. Grosh

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