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Comparison of Use of Household and Geographic Point Samples to Capture Livestock Data from Pastoralists

*Stephanie Eckman, Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Germany 
Kristen Himelein, The World Bank 

Keywords: dual-frame, coverage error, measurement error, households

Livestock ownership is an important component of rural livelihoods in many countries, but high quality data on livestock are difficult to collect due to the nomadic and semi-nomadic nature of many pastoralists. Most national household based surveys restrict the sample to those living in dwellings and thus exclude those without fixed dwellings, leading to coverage error in these household based surveys. In addition, we worry about the quality of the livestock data provided by those who can be reached via a household sample: household based family members may not be able to provide accurate data on livestock which they may never see, leading to measurement error in data collected from households as well.

This research project uses a unique dual-frame design to capture data from all livestock-owning families in the Afar region of Ethiopia. We use both a traditional household based sample and a random geographic cluster sample to collect household based data on livestock. While the random geographic cluster sample technique is commonly used in agricultural and animal health surveys, to our knowledge it has never been used to reach households for socio-demographic surveys. We will explore measurement error, coverage error and data collection costs between the two samples and determine which provides the highest quality and most cost effective data.