Beginning Wednesday 20th July, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) will start preparations for the upcoming , (MICS).
The survey is scheduled to begin at the end of July and conclude in November 2022.
As part of the preparations, field practice exercises and one pilot exercise will be undertaken July 20, 21, 22; and July 26.
The CSO noted that the MICS is a household survey implemented by countries under a programme developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide internationally comparable, statistically rigorous data on the situation of women and children.
Once completed, the survey will have some of the most comprehensive data on the status of women and children in Trinidad and Tobago.
The practice exercises and pilot are part of a CSO-conducted five-week training programme which commenced on June 27.
For the exercises, field staff will go around in pairs requesting from residents the opportunity to test the water that a household usually drinks.
This will be randomly done, based on the consent of the household. The field staff will be carrying water quality testing equipment in bags and will conduct the tests at the randomly selected household.
For the exercises, Water Quality Consultants will observe the testers in real life settings to ensure what was taught in the training sessions are fully grasped.
The field practice will begin in Woodbrook, Port of Spain with 10 interviewers testing water quality, 10 supervisors assisting and four observers.
On Thursday, the field practice will go to St Ann’s, where 10 interviewers will be testing water quality with two observers and on Friday 22, all field staff (interviewers, supervisors, water quality testers) which includes 35 interviewers, 10 supervisors, 10 testing water quality, six observers will be in areas in Diego Martin, Trincity, Arima and Chaguanas.
For this aspect of the practice exercise, field staff will go around in pairs conducting interviews. This will be randomly done, based on consent of households. The field officers will use paper questionnaires as well as tablets on which to capture the data.
The MICS pilot takes place on July 26, involving 35 interviewers, 10 supervisors, 10 water quality testers, 6 observers who are all CSO field staff. The locations planned for this session are Charlieville, Jerningham Junction, Blue Basin, Cocoyea Village, St Joseph Village, El Socorro, Aranguez, Curepe, Tunapuna.
The pilot is the dry run for the actual MICS and all field staff will be dressed in light blue T-shirts for identification purposes and caps that have the CSO logo, MICS logo and UNICEF logos.
They will be in smaller teams of four or five people, visiting every tenth household in the enumeration district. The field staff will also have tablets, bags and umbrellas, visiting households, testing drinking water and interviewing households.
This will be the final opportunity for the field staff to get comfortable with every element of survey work, map reading and location, interviewing and sending completed data to supervisors in preparation for the actual fieldwork related to the MICS that begins on July 29.
The CSO assured that all information collected during these exercises will follow strict confidentiality protocols and will not be shared outside of the exercise.
Citizens in the target areas are asked to participate in the exercise and citizens can contact the CSO at 624-7001 with any queries or concerns.
Loop News