India - Time use survey: 1998

Face-to-face [f2f]The pros and cons of getting the survey conducted through a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) was deliberated in great details. As the survey was to be conducted in 6 States, the strength of the NGO in terms of skilled manpower was an important consideration. As it was difficult to identify such a NGO, it was decided to involve, Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the respective States in this exercise. These organisations already conduct large scale surveys and have their offices located at the districts and block level. Moreover, they also have the data processing facilities. The use of these organisations helped in fast training of the already experienced investigators, reduction in the cost of the survey due to short distance travel involved by the investigators, avoidance of the involvement of another agency for the data entry and processing work. The involvement of these agencies also helped in the capacity building in these organisations.The final questionnaire used in the survey was evolved after a number of discussion with the academic experts and the practising survey statisticians. The final questionnaire consisted of following three parts:
i. Schedule 0.1: Listing Questionnaire for the Rural Areas
ii. Schedule 0.2: Listing Questionnaire for the Urban Areas
iii. Schedule 0.3: Household Questionnaire which consist of following Blocks

(a) Block 0: Identification of Sample Households
(b) Block 1: Household Characteristics
(c) Block 2: Particulars of Household Members
(d) Block 3: Time Disposition of Persons on Selected Days of the Week

A copy of the questionnaire is attached as external resource To provide technical guidance for various activities in the Survey a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was constituted under the Chairmanship of Prof. Indira Hirway, a non-official expert from Centre for Development Alternatives, Ahmedabad. The composition and term of reference of the TAC are given at Annexure-I. A number of meetings of the TAC was held to finalise the questionnaire, sampling design, tabulation plan etc. The members of the TAC also visited the field to see the quality of field work. The officers of the Central Statistical Organization involved with this Survey frequently inspected the field work. For each State participating in the Survey, a Technical Advisory Committee was also constituted which has the representation of non-official members also. These State level
Advisory Committees were also requested to meet every quarter to sort out the local problems and provide the guidance. Each State was also asked to submit regular progress report of the field work. Because of these strict monitoring mechanism, field work of the Survey sas completed, as per schedule in July, 1999.