| id |
eprints-24652
|
| recordtype |
eprints
|
| institution |
SOAS, University of London
|
| collection |
SOAS Research Online
|
| language |
English
|
| language_search |
English
|
| description |
This paper assesses the empirical representativeness of micro-data by comparing the Malawi 2008 census to two representative household surveys – ‘the Living Standard Measurement Survey’ and the ‘Demographic and Health Survey’ – both implemented in Malawi in 2010. The comparison of descriptive statistics – demographics, asset ownership, and living conditions – shows considerable similarities despite statistically identifiable differences due to the large samples. Differences mainly occur when wording, scope, and pre-defined answer categories diverge across surveys. Multivariate analyses are considerably less representative due to loss of observations with composite indicators yielding higher comparability as individual ones. Household-level fixed-effect specifications produce more similar results, yet are not suited for policy conclusions. Comparability of micro-data should not be assumed but checked on a case-by-case basis. Still, micro-data constitute reliable grounds for factually informed conclusions if design and context are appropriately considered.
|
| format |
Journal Article
|
| author |
Tasciotti, Luca
|
| author_facet |
Tasciotti, Luca
Wagner, Natascha
|
| authorStr |
Tasciotti, Luca
|
| author_letter |
Tasciotti, Luca
|
| author2 |
Wagner, Natascha
|
| author2Str |
Wagner, Natascha
|
| title |
How Much Should We Trust Micro-data? A Comparison of the Socio-demographic Profile of Malawian Households Using Census, LSMS and DHS data
|
| publisher |
Springer Nature
|
| publishDate |
2017
|
| url |
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/24652/
|
