Presentation for Pew Research Center's Methodological Workshop on Public Opinion Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

1. Mobile Phone Panel
Surveys in Africa
Alvin Etang Ndip
Poverty & Equity GP, World Bank
Pew Research Center
Nov 30, 2017

2. The development challenge
 Reliable
 Timely

3. New opportunities

4. http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/listening-to-africa

5. -
Pilot
countries…

6. 1. Carry out a Baseline survey

7. 2. Mobile Phone Survey
Monthly interviews Provide incentives
Short questionnaires

8. 3. Analysis
• Combine mobile data with baseline data
• Test for non-response and allow for reweighting
56
70 65
78 77 72 73 75
89
20
47
41
49
59
48
60
54 59
67
24 26
17 17
3
55
36
60
50 55
71 76 73 68 72
44
30 35
22 23 28 27 25
11
80
53
59
51
41
52
40
46 41
33
76 74
83 83
97 100 100 100 100
45
64
40
50 45
29 24 27 32 28
Before
14-Jun
14-Aug
14-Oct
14-Nov
14-Dec
15-Jan
15-Feb
15-Mar
15-Apr
Before
14-Jun
14-Aug
14-Oct
14-Nov
14-Dec
15-Jan
15-Feb
15-Mar
15-Apr
Before
14-Jun
14-Aug
14-Oct
14-Nov
14-Dec
15-Jan
15-Feb
15-Mar
15-Apr
Before
14-Jun
14-Aug
14-Oct
14-Nov
14-Dec
15-Jan
15-Feb
IDPs Refguees Niger Refugees Mauritania Returnees
Yes No
Have you had paid employment in the past week?
Impact of the Mali Crisis on Employment - Trends

9. 4. Dissemination
• Invest significant resources in dissemination
• All data and questionnaires released into the public
domain

10. Wide range of data can be collected
• Service delivery (health, education, water, electricity, etc.)
• Migration; Prices; Nutrition and food security; Violence; labor…..
Food insecurity is on the rise in Madagascar
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Urban Rural Poorest Poor Middle Rich Riches National South
%ofhouseholdsstatingYES
In the past 7 days, did you worry that your household would
not have enough food?
Mar-14 Jul-14 Jan-15 Sep-15

11. Advantages of mobile phone panel surveys
• Gathering data in volatile and high-risk environments
No ‘boots on ground’ [Data collection in hard-to-access
areas]
Political crisis/unrest
Epidemic e.g. Ebola impact survey: Liberia; S. Leone;
Guinea
• Quick response to new data needs (Flexibility)
E.g. natural disasters
• Quick Turnaround (Timeliness)
• Cost effectiveness

12. What it is and it is not
• NOT a replacement to household surveys
• NOT right platform for lengthy interviews
• BUT instead, they are complements to regular
surveys
• More suitable for:
• Monitoring rapidly changing conditions
• Obtaining feedback from households

13. Lessons learned
• Attrition and Non-response:
• Potentially a major problem (as in all high frequency panels)
• Location (rural) matters
• Owning own phone
• Response rates generally high
• Requires vigilance, especially initial stages
• Technology can make a difference (Voice, IVR, USSD, SMS)
• The quality of support (chargers, phone habits, quality of
enumerators (training and protocols))
• There are several ways of minimizing attrition/non-response
• If some of the support fail (re-weight ex-post to compensate)

14. Inspired poverty and conflict monitoring in volatile
and high-risk environments (FCV) in Nigeria
14
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
North Central North East North West South South
Frequency of conflict events
Death Displacement Physical Harm Asset Loss
Conflict events that happened to family members, by zone

15. Used for opinion polling in Africa
1. Informed Report of Assessment of Recovery and Development
Priorities in Mali’s Conflicted Regions (2016)
7 6
12 9
16
4
26
18
77
90
62
73
Year 1 + 2 (Short term) Years 3-6 (medium
term)
Citizens Leaders
Priority initiatives for households and authorities compared with
MIEC financing priorities (%)
Governance Security Socioeconomic Development

16. 2. Views of 1598 Tanzanian hhs, nationally
representative
Source: Twaweza, SzW Survey (Round 9, October 2013)

17. Thank you!
Contact: aetangndip@worldbank.org