Cross-Cultural Questionnaire Development and Testing on Child Labor with Emphasis on Assessing Differences Across Culture and Languages (303121)

Keywords: cognitive testing, cross-culture, multiple languages, child labor

With funding from the United States Department of Labor International Labor Affairs Bureau (USDOL/ILAB) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT) IMPAQ is conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness of five child labor interventions in five countries---India, Malawi, Rwanda, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

The context of child labor varies in the five countries, from children involved in mica mining in India, to tea plantation activities in Rwanda, working in tobacco farms in Malawi, and children leaving school and working primarily in the informal sector in a variety of urban environments in Ecuador and Costa Rica. The programs vary from educating and empowering the community to, facilitating returning to school, providing vocational training or intensive noncognitive school curriculum modules to enable children to earn their secondary school certificate.

Surveys are being implemented with 1) heads of household and women with children in India; 2) children aged 16--17 years in Rwanda in a vocational training program; 3) head of households in Malawi’s tobacco growing area; 4) 15--21 years olds school dropouts in Ecuador enrolled in an intensive education program; and 5) children of all ages who have dropped out of school and are being enrolled back in Costa Rica.

The questionnaires are designed to measure the impact of these programs. Questions include assessment of the prevalence of child labor. While the key research questions are shared across the five programs, the questionnaires are adapted to be relevant within the local context, the programs and populations.

We will conduct cognitive testing to refine the instruments and analyze the data from the testing paying special attention to change due to languages and cultures. We will analyze the differences in the ways respondents interpret and define concepts and patterns in response and interpretation of response categories.