Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:14:56.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Response Reliability of Demographic Data: A Longitudinal Study in Sri Lanka

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

W. I. De Silva
Affiliation:
Demography Programme, Division of Demography and Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra

Summary

Response consistency was examined by linking the records of women interviewed in the 1982 Sri Lanka Contraceptive Prevalence Survey with records from the same individuals followed up 3 years later. Seventy-eight percent of women reported identical year of birth in the two surveys, but only 58% were consistent for age at marriage. Data on sterilisation and number of children born were highly reliable, but wives' reports on husband's age and education were relatively weak. Multivariate analysis of the effects of socioeconomic factors on consistency in age reporting confirms that education is the most influential factor related to consistency, followed by religion and husband's occupation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alam, I. & Cleland, J. (1981) Illustrative Analysis: Recent Fertility Trends in Sri Lanka. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 25. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Basnayake, S. (1988) An analysis of reasons for rejection at a vasectomy clinic. J.fam. Welfare, 35, 17.Google Scholar
Brown, H. P. & Schanzer, S. N. (1980) Experiences with a sterilization program: after 500 vaginal tubal ligations. Advances in Planned Parenthood, 15, 59.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C., Gajanayake, I., Caldwell, B. & Caldwell, P. (1989) Is marriage delay a multiphasic response to pressures for fertility decline? The case of Sri Lanka. J. Marr. & Fam. 51, 337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chidambaram, V. C., Cleland, G. & Verma, V. (1980) Some Aspects of WFS Data Quality: A Preliminary Assessment. World Fertility Survey Comparative Studies No. 16. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka (1987) Sri Lanka Contraceptive Survey, 1985. Colombo.Google Scholar
Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka (1988) Demographic and Health Survey 1987, Sri Lanka. Colombo.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I. (1990a) Reproductive Preferences and Subsequent Behaviour: the Sri Lankan Experience. PhD thesis, Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I. (1990b) Age at marriage in Sri Lanka: stabilizing or declining? J. biosoc. Sci. 22, 395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ewbank, D. C. (1981) Age Misreporting and Age-Selective Undernumeration: Sources, Patterns, and Consequences for Demographic Analysis. National Academy Press, Washington.Google Scholar
Goldman, N., Coale, A. J. & Weinstein, M. (1979) The Quality of Data in the Nepal Fertility Survey. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 6. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Knodel, J. & Piampiti, S. (1977) Response reliability in a longitudinal survey in Thailand. Stud. Fam. Plann. 8, 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langford, C. M. (1981) Fertility change in Sri Lanka since the war: an analysis of the experience of different districts. Popul. Stud. 35, 285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, S. Y. & Hagen, D. F. (1984) Laparoscopic sterilization in a free-standing clinic: a report of 1092 cases. Contraception, 30, 545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lightbourne, R. E. (1984) Quality of the WFS Fertility Preference Data. WFS London Symposium.Voorburg.Google Scholar
MacDonald, A. L., Simpson, P. M. & Whitfield, A. M. (1978) An Assessment of the Reliability of the Indonesia Fertility Survey Data. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 3. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Margaret Pyke Center (1973) One thousand vasectomies. Br. med. J. 4, 216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mukherjee, B. N. (1975) Reliability estimates of some survey data on family planning. Popul. Stud. 29, 127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nadarajah, T. (1986) Marital status. In: Sri Lanka Census of Population and Housing 1981, General Report, Vol. 3, pp. 90110. Department of Census and Statistics, Colombo.Google Scholar
O'Muircheartaigh, C. A. & Marckwardt, A. M. (1981) An assessment of the reliability of WFS data. WFS Conference 1980: Record of Proceedings, Vol. 3, pp. 313378. Voorburg.Google Scholar
Ratnayake, K., Retherford, R. D. & Sivasubramaniam, S. (1984) Fertility Estimates for Sri Lanka Derived from the 1981 Census. Aitken Spence, Colombo.Google Scholar
Retherford, R. D. & Rele, J. R. (1989). A decomposition of recent fertility changes in South Asia. Popul. Dev. Rev., 15, 739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, J. A., Huber, D. H. & Hong, S. (1986) Worldwide trends in voluntary sterilization. Int. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 12, 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srikantan, K. S. (1979) An Evaluation of the Fiji Fertility Survey Based on the Post-enumeration Survey. World Fertility Survey Occasional Paper No. 21. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Stycos, J. M. (1984) Putting Back the K and A in KAP: A Study of the Implications of Knowledge and Attitudes for Fertility in Costa Rica. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 48. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Trussell, J. (1980) Illustrative Analysis: Age at First Marriage in Sri Lanka and Thailand. World Fertility Survey Scientific Report No. 13. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Trussell, J., Hatcher, R. A., Cates, W., Stewart, F. H. & Kost, K. (1990) Contraceptive failure in the United States: an update. Stud. Fam. Plann. 21, 51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trussell, J. & Kost, K. (1987) Contraceptive failure in the United States: a critical review of the literature. Stud. Fam. Plann. 18, 237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisberg, E. & Fraser, I. S. (1982) Fertility following reversal of male and female sterilization. Contraception, 26, 361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed