Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006
Palau, 2006
Identification
PLW_2006_HIES_v01_M
Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Palau | PLW |
Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies]
The Ministry of Finance, Bureau of Budget and Planning saw the need of conducting a Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and combining its outputs with the 2005 Census of Population and Housing data to provide information to assist the leaders of Palau address some of these issues. Although a HIES was carried out in 2004, outputs were incomplete and were not published, thus it was necessary to conduct another survey in order to obtain complete up-to-date information.
The purpose of this survey is to obtain information on the income, consumption pattern, incidence of poverty, and saving propensities for different groups of people in the Republic of Palau. This information will be used to guide policy makers in framing socio-economic developmental policies and in initiating financial measures for improving economic conditions of the people.
Some more specific outputs from the survey are listed below:
a) To obtain expenditure weights and other useful data for the revision of consumer price indices.
b) To supplement the data available for use in compiling official estimates of household accounts in the systems of national accounts.
c) To supply basic data needed for policy making in connection with social and economic planning
d) To provide data for assessing the impact on household living conditions of existing or proposed economic and social measures, particularly changes in the structure of household expenditures and in household consumption
e) To gather information on poverty lines and incidence of poverty throughout Palau.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Household
- Individual
Version
Version 01: Edited data not anonymized.
2007-07-24
Scope
Household Control Form: Collects basic demographic information from each member of the household such as, age, sex, marital status, ethnicity, etc.
Expenditure Questionnaire: Covers basic details about the dwelling structure and its access to things like water and sanitation. It was also used as a vehicle to collect expenditure on major and infrequent expenditures incurred by the household.
Income Questionnaire: Covers each of the main types of household income generated by the household such as wages and salaries, business income and income from subsistence activities.
Diary: Covers all daily expenditures incurred by the household, consumption of items produced by the household such as fish and crops, and gifts both received and given by the household.
| Topic | Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| Access to Finance | World Bank |
| Health Systems & Financing | World Bank |
| Payment Systems | World Bank |
| Education | World Bank |
Coverage
National
All private households.
Households that had not been residing in Palau for the last 12 months and did not intend to stay in Palau for the next 12 months at the time of the survey, were still selected in the survey, but treated as out-of-scope.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Office of Planning & Statistics, Bureau of Budget and Planning | Ministry of Finance |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Kim Robertson | Secretariat of the Pacific Community | Technical assistance - initial planning & set up stage |
| Mr. Gregory Keeble | Secretariat of the Pacific Community | Technical assistance - data processing and data analysis |
| Mr. Chris Ryan | Secretariat of the Pacific Community | Technical assistance - data processing and data analysis |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Republic of Palau Government | Shared funding |
| Asian Development Bank | Shared funding |
| US Department of Interior | Shared funding |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Ms. Josephine Ulengchong | Work Investment Act (WIA) |
Sampling
A sample of 20 per cent was considered more than sufficient for Palau. An additional 10 per cent of sample was selected to allow for sample loss. As a result, a sample size of 1,041 households (20 per cent of 4,684, with a 10 per cent top-up) was considered suitable for the survey.
Six target areas were identified as sub-populations for which estimates would be desirable. These six areas, which also can be considered stratum were:
- Koror
- Airai
- East Babeldaob
- West Babeldaob
- Peleliu
- Kayangel/Angaur
To accommodate this requirement, the sample of 1,041 households needed to be distributed amongst each of these six strata in such a manner that the level of accuracy derived from each stratum would be roughly equal. The manner in which this is achieved is to over-sample (proportion wise) from the smaller strata to ensure they still have sufficient sample.
To make workloads even and manageable in the field for interviewers and supervisors, the final sample size was adjusted such that it was divisible by 15 within each stratum. The number 15 was chosen as it was considered a suitable number of dwellings for an interviewer to enumerate over a three week period.
Another modification to the sample was with Kayangel/ Angaur. Given the required sample for this area was derived to be 60 dwellings, and there are only 73 dwellings in these areas, it was decided to completely enumerate this stratum.
Although it would be desirable to cover all of Palau for this survey, due to cost and time constraints a couple of areas were excluded from the frame before the selections were made. The two areas removed from scope were:
- Sonsorol
- Tobi
The impact on final estimates is considered to be very small given the small populations on these two islands; 18 households on Sonsorol, and 10 households on Tobi. This accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of the population of Palau.
The sample of dwellings was selected independently within each stratum. A complete list of all dwellings identified during the recent census was used as a frame. The first task was to sort the dwellings within each stratum by two variables:
- Hamlet (on Koror) and State (rest of Palau)
- Household Size (number of persons)
Once the list had been sorted, systematic sampling was used to produce the sample of dwellings. A skip was produced by dividing the population size for each stratum by the required sample size (N/n). Having produced the skip, a random start was then generated between 0 and the skip to determine the starting point for the systematic sample.
For details please refer to the attached document entitled Documentation for Sample Selection.
The overall response rate for Palau was 73%, which was a lower response rate than what was expected. The final response status for the 1,063 households selected in the HIES, 760 households fully responded to the survey, 28 partially responded (of which 16 could be included in the analysis) and 275 didn’t respond at all for various reasons.
For details please refer to section 4.2.1 NON-RESPONSE BIAS in the attached report entitled Republic of Palau Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006.
In order to produce survey weights to produce more meaningful estimates of both population totals and means, weights were derived at the stratum level. The computation of the stratum level weight was a simple process where the estimated number of occupied private households at the time of the survey, was divided by the responding sample for that stratum.
For details please refer to section 3.5 ESTIMATION USING SURVEY WEIGHTS in the attached report entitled Republic of Palau Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006.
Survey instrument
The survey schedules adopted for the HIES included the following:
• Household Control Form
• Expenditure Questionnaire
• Income Questionnaire
• Diary (x2)
Information collected in the four schedules covered the following:
a) Household Control Form: This form includes the following information:
- Name
- Sex
- Date of Birth
- Ethnicity
- Marital Status
- Educational Attainment
- Activity Status
- Literacy Status
- Internet Usage
b) Income questionnaire: This questionnaire has 8 sections and includes the following information:
- Working for Wage and / or Salary
- Agriculture, livestock, fishing and other sales
- Other Self Employed & Business Operations
- Previous Jobs held in the last 12 months
- Services Provided to Other Private Households
- Receipts from Custom Occasions
- Welfare Benefits/Allowances
- Other Income, including Remittances
c) Expenditure Questionnaire: This questionnaire has 16 sections and includes the following information:
- Dwelling characteristics
- Dwelling tenure
- Mortgages and loans for purchase of dwellings
- Insurance policies
- Construction of new dwellings
- Major home improvements
- Household operation
- Transportation
- Travel – Domestic & Overseas
- Education, recreation, sport and culture
- Loans
- Credit Cards/ Charge accounts
- Contribution to benefit schemes
- Medical and health services
- Customs Occasions
- Miscellaneous payments
- Agricultural Assets
d) Weekly Diary: This questionnaire has 4 sections and includes the following information:
- Items Bought
- Consumption of Items Produced by the Household
- Gifts
- Winnings from Betting, Raffles and Lotteries
For the household control form, expenditure questionnaire and income questionnaire, a face-to-face interview was conducted with the household to capture the information. For the two diaries, the first diary was left with the household for the first week, for the household to fill out. After the first week, the diary is picked up and the second week diary is dropped off to be filled out and picked up at the end of second week. Interviewers were required to contact each household every two to three days to make sure households were filling out their diaries appropriately.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2006-05-01 | 2006-11-30 |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Office of Planning & Statistics, Bureau of Budget and Planning | Ministry of Finance |
The staff involved in the fieldwork comprised of the following:
• Staff from the Office of Planning and Statistics (6)
• Field Supervisors (6)
• Field Enumerators (27)
The staff from the Office of Planning and Statistics were responsible for overseeing the survey fieldwork, as well as supervising the enumerators in Kayangel and Angaur. Each of the remaining strata had one supervisor each, with the exception of Koror which required 2 supervisors. The enumerators were each given between 2-3 workloads spread over a three week period each, in which they were required to enumerate 15 households per workload. As a result, each enumerator was responsible for enumerating between 30 and 45 households each.
For details please refer to section 3.4 FIELD STRATEGY in the attached report entitled Republic of Palau Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006.
Field Work
The field activities are the most important stage of the survey. The identification of the households and the arrangement of the visiting periods are important to ensure that the objectives of the survey are met and that errors which occur in the field, can be corrected and handled without further cost. Each household will be observed for a period of 2 weeks and questions will be asked of their expenditure and income for the last 12 months.
Interviewing households on Sundays are discouraged and also Saturdays if the household members are Seventh Day Adventists.
A calendar of activity has been included in the two field books.
Identifying Selected Dwellings
The first task an interviewer needs to undertake for each workload is to familiarise themselves with the dwellings selected in the workload. Quite often the interviewer will know the dwelling in advance, before even visiting the location, so these dwellings will be straight forward. For the remaining dwellings, of which there will be few, the interviewer may be required to ask assistance from people in the area to help assist finding the right dwelling.
It is very important to go to the dwellings that have been selected in the survey for you to enumerate, and thus not change any of these selections. If you are having trouble locating any dwelling, you can always call on the assistance of both your supervisor and the NSO. This should be done as early as possible in the process to give time to the supervisor/NSO to provide the required assistance.
The 3 Week Cycle
Each interviewer will be responsible for interviewing 30-45 dwellings during the 9 week period. This will comprise of 2-3 workloads of 15 dwellings each. Addressing each workload will take 3 weeks in total. The procedure an interviewer should follow during this 3 week period is as follows:
Day 1-4: Travel around the selected area and identify the location of the 15 dwellings for that workload. Visit all 15 dwellings and introduce the survey, fill in the Household Control Form and drop off the first diary.
Day 5-18: Visit every selected dwelling each day if possible and assist with filling out the diary. Conduct the expenditure and income questionnaires for each selected household at any stage throughout the 2 week period.
Day 19-21: Go through all expenditure and income questionnaires and make sure everything looks OK. Collect all Diaries from all selected dwellings. Make sure all forms are accounted for, and passed on to the supervisor.
Depending on the interviewer, this process should occur 2-3 times over the 9 week period.
The Initial Visit
All 15 dwellings for each workload need to be visited in the first 4 days. It is important that the following activities take place during this period:
i) Introduce the survey to the household, courtesy of the Primary Approach Letter (PAL). ii) Fill in the Household Control Form (HCF) for the household. iii) Drop off the first diary for the household, which should commence being filled in on the following Monday (see timetable for when this is).
Visits During the Middle Two Weeks
During the middle 2 weeks of the 3 week cycle, households are required to fill in the two 1-week diaries they are provided with. It is also during this period that each of the main questionnaires needs to be filled in:
i) Expenditure questionnaire ii) Income questionnaire
These are quite long questionnaires, so don’t leave this work until the end of this two week period, as it won’t get completed on time. Also during the two week period, the interviewer must visit each selected household as many times as possible to check on the progress of the diary.
The Final Visit
During the last week, the interviewer must make their final visit to the household to collect the last diary and any other survey material still with the household. It is during this visit that the interviewer must ensure that all survey material for that household has been completed correctly. This includes:
i) Household Control Form ii) Expenditure Questionnaire iii) Income Questionnaire iv) Diary (x 2) v) Envelope covers (back and front)
It will be more difficult to go back and visit households after the fieldwork is complete, so it is very important that checking of final materials is done either before or during this final visit to resolve any problems.
Data appraisal
To determine the impact of sampling error on the survey results, relative standard errors (RSEs) for key estimates were produced.
The estimates for Total Income and Total Expenditure from the HIES can be considered to be very good, from a sampling error perspective. The same can also be said for the Wage and Salary estimate in income and the Food estimate in expenditure, which make up a high proportion of each respective group.
Some of the other estimates should be used with caution, depending on the magnitude of their RSE. Some of these high RSEs are to be expected, due to the expected degree of variability for how households would report for these items. For example, with Business Income (RSE 30.1%), most households would report no business income as no household members undertook this activity, whereas other households would report large business incomes as it’s their main source of income.
Relative Standard Errors for key estimates at the region level can be found in Appendix 2 of the survey report.
Non-response Bias
In was seen that 760 households fully responded to the survey, 28 partially responded (of which 16 could be included in the analysis) and 275 didn’t respond at all for various reasons. Despite the table indicating that the vast majority of nonresponses were “vacant/out-of-scope”, this was unlikely as the dwellings were occupied at the time of the census, only one year prior to the HIES. The assumption was therefore made that these households were more than likely mis-coded during the HIES collection, and would more likely have been a refusal or non-contact.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Director, Bureau of Budget & Planning | Ministry of Finance | ropbudget@palaugov.net |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | As contained in the Letter of the Minister of Finance to the respondent household: "All information collected in this survey will be used only for Statistical purposes and shall be held in strict confidentiality. All enumerators, supervisors, Office of Statistics staff and all personnel that will be involved in the survey shall be required to take an oath of confidentiality/ secrecy to ensure survey information are kept confidential and used for the purpose explained above and nothing else. The ownership of the data belongs to the people of the Republic of Palau, data security, confidentiality and institutional ownership will be held with the Office of Statistics, Bureau of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Finance and will be made available to partner development organizations and other institutions/individuals provided the confidentiality issue is upheld." |
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
Office of Planning & Statistics, Bureau of Budget and Planning, Palau. Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006. Ref. PLW_2006_HIES_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [source] on [date].
Contacts
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Budget and Planning | ops@palaugov.net | http://www.palaugov.net/stats/ |
Metadata production
DDI_PLW_2006_HIES_v01_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Muriell Sinsak | Bureau of Budget & Planning, MOF | Survey Documentation |
| Accelerated Data Program | International Household Survey Network | Editing for the IHSN Survey Catalog |
2012-07-16
Metadata version
Version 1.1 (July 2012). First documentation using IHSN Toolkit.This is the edited version of the documentation produced during the July 2012 workshop in Guam.