Living Standards Survey 2010-2011

As in the previous two surveys, NLSS-III used two types of questionnaires: household questionnaire and community questionnaire. There are two separate community questionnaires one each for rural and urban communities.

As many of the NLSS-II questions as possible were retained in the NLSS-III. However, some important additions and modifications were made in these questionnaires to address the contemporary issues.

A new section with questions on anthropometry and breastfeeding was added in the NLSS-III household questionnaire. Other two new sections added were on "jobs and time use" and "employment and unemployment". Additional questions on food consumption during the past 7 days were introduced in "food expenses and home production" section. For some other questions of the NLSS-II, answer categories were modified, expanded or elaborated.

First, draft questionnaires were developed based on the questionnaires used in the NLSS-II. The questionnaires were pre-tested several times to assess their use under actual field conditions. Pretests were conducted in each of the Kanchanpur, Doti, Banke, Rupendehi, Kaski, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Dhanusha, Dhankuta, Jhapa and Panchthar districts. Following the experience of the pre-tests and the feedback obtained from potential data users, the questionnaires to be used for the actual survey were finalized.

In line with the project's objective of improving linkages between data users and the data collecting agency, the data needs and priorities identified by the project's Steering and Technical Committees were given special consideration while finalizing the questionnaires.

An 80-paged household questionnaire with 21 sections and 9 appendices was administered in the NLSS-III. The content of this household questionnaire is presented in Box 1.5. The contents of the rural and urban community questionnaires are presented in Box 1.6. An English version of the NLSS-III Household Questionnaire is presented in "Statistical Report Volume 2 Annex 2".

Contents of household questionnaire:
Cover page - Household ID, name and address of the household head, GPS coordinates of the location, and certification of enumerator and supervisor.
Section 0 Survey information - Enumeration details (date of interview and replacement details and certification of supervisor); household information; data entry details (date of data entry and certification by supervisor).
Section 1 Household roster - Demographic characteristics (including name, sex, age, relationship to the household head, birth place, marital status for persons aged 10 years or over, and caste/ethnicity), and identification of household members, and parents of household members (whether living in the same household and educational status).
Section 2 Housing - Type of dwelling occupied by the household, housing expenses, utilities and amenities and use of iodized salt in the household.
Section 3 Access to facilities - Distance to the various (24) public facilities and services, mode of transport and travel time required to reach the facility.
Section 4 Migration (for all household members aged 5 years and over) - First time in migration to the place of enumeration, out migration over the past five years.
Section 5 Food expenses and home production (during past 12 months and past 7 days) - Consumption of foods (over a typical month)- home production, food purchased and food received in kind, and consumption of foods (during past 7 days from the day of enumeration)- home production, food purchased and food received in kind.
Section 6 Non food expenditures and inventory of durable goods (over a period of 12 months) - Expenditure of frequent non food items and infrequent non food items, inventory of durable goods, and own account production of goods).
Section 7 Education (for all members aged 3 years and over) - Literacy status, level of education, past enrollment and current enrollment.
Section 8 Health - Disability and chronic illness (for all members), illness and injuries during past 30 days, not able to work due to illness (for members aged 5 years and over), knowledge of HIV/AIDS, immunization (for children below 5 years of age).
Section 9 Marriage and maternity history - Maternity history (for all ever married women aged 15-49 years who have given live birth), pre and post natal care (for all women with a child aged 3 years or less), family planning (for all currently married women aged 15-49 years), and household decision (for spouse of the male household head or female household head).
Section 10 Jobs and time use - Time use (for all household members aged 5 years or over) - total number of hours spent during the past seven days in economic activities, extended economic (home based) activities and non-work activities (household chores); and jobs during the past 12 months, the past 7 days and sector of employment (for all household members aged 5 years and older).
Section 11 Unemployment and under employment - Unemployment i.e., not working; underemployment i.e., working less than 40 hours per week (for all household members aged 5 years or over).
Section 12 Wage jobs - Wage employment in agriculture and outside agriculture wage paid daily, long term or contract basis (for all household members aged 5 years or over).
Section 13 Farming and livestock - Land holding and farming activities (land owned, land sharecropped/rented/mortgaged-in, increase/decrease in holding area), production and use of crops, expenditure on agricultural input (including seeds/seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, and hired labour), earnings/expenditure of farming, inventory of livestock on holding, earnings/expenditure of livestock, ownership of farming assets and access to extension services.
Section 14 Non-agricultural enterprises/activities - Self employed in non-agricultural enterprise and activities by type and operation of enterprises, and income and expenditure of the enterprises.
Section 15 Credit and savings - Borrowing and outstanding loans (borrower, source, amount, period and collateral); lending and outstanding loans (borrower, source, amount, period and collateral); other assets (land, property and other fixed assets); and household decisions (for male household head or spouse of the male household head).
Section 16 Absentees information - Demographic characteristics of the absentee, main reason of leaving home; employment and remittances received from absentees (sector of absentee's employment, medium of remittances, total amount and use of remittances received).
Section 17 Other remittances - Remittances and transfer-income sent (demographic characteristics of the recipient, work activity of the recipient, total amount sent and medium of transfer); remittances and transfer income received (demographic characteristics of the donor, work activity of the donor, total amount received, main use of remittances received and medium of transfer).
Section 18 Transfers, social assistance and other income - Amount received under different social assistance programmes (amount expected and amount actually received under the programmes), benefits in-kind, benefits from public work activities, and income from all other sources not covered elsewhere in the questionnaire.
Section 19 Adequacy of consumption and government facilities - Household's perception on their standards of living and the standards of government facilities/services that the household is using; Household food security and steps taken to alleviate food shortage.
Section 20 Anthropometrics and breastfeeding practices - Exact age of the child, measurement of height and weight of children of age 59 months or less, exclusive breast feeding (for child of age less than 6 months), and duration of breastfeeding.
Section 21 Panel sample household tracking - Household composition in 1995/96 or 2003/04, present household composition, reason of changes in the household composition, current status (not the household member).

Contents of rural and urban community questionnaires

Rural community questionnaire:
Cover page - Ward ID and certification of enumerator and supervisor.
Section 1 Population characteristics and infrastructure - Characteristics of the community, status of electricity supply, water supply and sewerage system in the ward.
Section 2 Access to facilities - Services and amenities, and health facilities existing and education status of the residents in the village development committee of the enumeration area.
Section 3 Agriculture and forestry - Land use, irrigation systems, and crop cycles; rate of wages paid to hired labour; rental rates for cattle and machinery; use of forestry.
Section 4 Migration - In and out migration of people in the community.
Section 5 Development programmes, user groups, and quality of life - Development programmes, existing user groups and quality of life in the community.
Section 6 Rural primary school - Education enrollment in the primary school, infrastructure of the school and supplies in the community.
Section 7 Rural health facilities - Health facilities, equipment and services available and health personnel in the community.
Section 8 Market and prices - Local shops, haat bazaar, availability and prices of different goods in local shops/haat bazaar, agricultural inputs and conversion of local units into standard units.

Urban community questionnaire:
Cover page - Ward ID and certification of enumerator and supervisor.
Section 1 Population characteristics and infrastructure - Characteristics of the community, status of electricity supply, water supply and sewerage system in the ward.
Section 2 Access to facilities - Distance from the community to various places and public facilities and services.
Section 3 Market and prices - Availability and prices of different food and non food commodities in the local shops/markets.
Section 4 Quality of life - Quality of welfare items compared with their status 5 years ago.