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1. Project Planning and Management2. Geospatial Mapping3. Enumeration Instruments4. Data Capture5. Census Testing6. Recruitment and Training7. Deployment and Supervision8. Enumeration and Logistics9. Quality Assurance10. Census Analysis11. Partnerships12. Advocacy13. Procurement14. Post-Enumeration Survey15. Alternative Approaches16. Planning Checklist
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back to Handbook Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Enumeration Instruments, Applications and Tools

The country practices outlined below in as much as possible followed the principles and recommendations for development of a digital census questionnaire. The US Census Bureau provided support to some countries to develop the electronic data collection application.

Kenya

Both the cartographic mapping tools and the census enumeration tools were developed through a consultative process. A secretariat was established which drafted the tools which were later reviewed by the established technical working committee (TWC) which had membership from various institutions. The tools were approved by the Steering committee that was at the apex of the management of the 2019 Census. During drafting of the tools, the secretariat reviewed the recommendations from the 2009 Census and the various commitments of the national government. During the stakeholders’ engagement several requests were made, and a review of the requests was done by the TWC, and approvals given where necessary.

The questionnaires underwent various processes and tests before finalisation and approval. The broad stages included determination of user needs and data gaps, development of the questionnaires, pretesting, piloting, readjustment, and finalisation.

After finalisation of the paper questionnaires, the questionnaires were modified and skip patterns included for programming. Some of the fields that were traditionally filled during enumeration were prefilled in the data collection application, e.g., part of the identification panel.

It was important to benchmark other countries and institutions, especially those within Africa that had conducted a census using handheld devices. Countries that were in the final planning stages of planning for their censuses were also considered. This provided useful insight on how to plan for the census. The US Census Bureau also provided some technical support in the finalisation of the data collection application. The questionnaires were translated to one local language- Kiswahili.

Various manuals and guides were developed to ensure consistency in training and execution of duties at all levels. These included a training guide to assist in the training of trainers, a supervisors’ manual that outlined the roles and responsibilities of both content and information and communication technology (ICT) supervisors, and lastly an enumerators’ training manual which acted as a reference guide for all persons undertaking the census.

The computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) manual was uploaded into the mobile devices for easy access. An in-app self-help button was also available in the application, enumerators would use this tool for any clarification they needed during an interview.

During cartographic mapping, various forms, manuals, and templates were developed for use during each of the phases of cartographic mapping to ensure consistency and quality data.

Prior to the field mapping, the following forms were developed and used:

  • Form F-54-5-1A- Rural household and homestead listing form for village elders to capture homesteads and households’ information within their villages.
  • Form F-54-5-7 that was used to fill names and contact details of the chief and assistant chiefs and number of villages within their area.
  • A sensitisation manual that was used to guide those sensitising the NGAOS in different parts of the country. 

During field mapping, several forms were developed and used:

  • Form F-54-5-1B- Rural homestead and household listing form for mapping assistants.
  • Form F-54-5-2- Urban structure and household listing form
  • Form F-54-5-3- Villages and EA summary form.
  • Form F-54-5-4- List of Administrative Areas and their Codes.

During map production, various tools and instruments were developed and used:

  • A map production manual which detailed processes and steps to be used by the GIS technicians to produce maps,
  • An EA and Sub-Location Map template that was used to help produce standardised maps.
  • An EA digitisation Schema that was used to ensure uniform county geo-files are created for ease of merging when creating the country geo-file. It contained all fields required in the geo-file.

During EA map verification various forms were developed to assist the team to confirm whether the maps and geo-files reflected the actual picture on the ground. The following forms were developed and used:

  • Form F-54-5-9 that indicated the nature of problem identified on the map and geo-file.

  • Form F-54-5-12 indicated administrative units with disputes and fragmented area and the causes of the disputes and fragmentation.

  • Form F-54-5-13 that was used to document newly gazetted administrative units that came up after the cartographic mapping was completed in each county.

Five questionnaires were developed to enumerate various populations in Kenya, for both the pilot and actual census enumeration. These were the main questionnaire and four short questionnaires that comprised:

  • Emigrants Questionnaire that enumerated persons who had moved out of the country in the last 15 years.
  • Travelers and persons on transit questionnaire.
  • Street persons/outdoor sleepers/ vagrants, hotels/lodges questionnaire.
  • Hospital in-patients and prisons/police cells questionnaire.

There also existed a “hybrid” questionnaire (which was a modification of the main questionnaire and only covered questions on the individual characteristics (p series) of the main questionnaire except questions on relationship, and line number of the mother).

Namibia

The tools development process started with a review of past census questionnaires to identify which questions have changed or are now being asked differently. This was followed by consultative meetings held with various stakeholders and Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) census management team, and recommendations were made based on the UN P&R for Population and Housing censuses, Rev 4 handbook to identify core questions which are key for the census enumeration and those that are not applicable to the Namibian context were disregarded. Some new modules (such as the Washington Group Short Set questions for disability measurement) still required buy-in and further consultations in country with organisations of persons with disability.

After approval of the questionnaire content, development of the electronic data collection application was initiated. During development of the applications several field tests and a pilot test were undertaken. The questionnaires were revised by the Directorate of Survey Service (DSS) and endorsed by NSA-Census Management Committee (CMC). The Master and Trainer of Trainer training was also used as an opportunity to refine the questionnaires and data collection manual before the pilot census. Proposed changes were discussed and incorporated into the CAPI application for critical issues that could compromise the quality of the pilot census exercise. Further review of the tools was undertaken after the pilot exercise.

Three questionnaires were developed for the Namibia census including the main census questionnaire (Form A), two additional forms to be used to count populations within residential institutions and special populations and an instructional manual.

Botswana

Development of the questionnaires was done internally by the NSO in collaboration with the US Census Bureau to support development of the electronic data collection application. Statisticians developed paper questionnaire including edit specifications (detailing the skip patterns and validations) which were used during the application development. Another team comprising statisticians, cartographers, developers and data entry supervisors were responsible for testing and documenting the test results after a scheduled system test.

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