The Preparatory Stage

This stage included a variety of overlapping operations to prepare the work plan and time-table, timely recruitment and training of the survey staff, and distribution of tasks and work areas. This stage also included the preparation of necessary concepts and definitions; finalization of survey documents such as the instruction manuals for data collection and other related forms; preparation of a system for manual data processing, including the editing, coding systems and manuals; preparation of electronic execution programs and loading the Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) with these programs and data cleaning programs from errors for producing tables, special monitors were designated for checking the data coming from the field. Data was gradually transferred from the PDA to the servers at the DOS main office.

Organization of Survey Staff

The organization of the survey staff who participated in the administrative and field activities was as follows:

1. Survey Administration Staff:
   It consisted of the Director General of Statistics, the National Director of the survey, the Director of the Household's Surveys Directorate as the Survey Executive Director and the Head of the Labor Force Survey division as a team leader of the survey, and professionals in technical, field and administrative subject.

2. Superintendent:
   The superintendent is the person in charge of the administration and execution of fieldwork operations in terms of planning of major daily field operations according to the specific timetable of the survey. He is the liaison between fieldwork teams and the survey administration and provides it with progress reports. He is selected from the most qualified DOS staff with long experience in censuses and surveys field operations.

3. Inspectors:
   Each inspector leads and administers a number of supervisors (i.e. team leaders) in terms of planning their daily and weekly work assignments in cooperation with the superintendent. In addition, he assigns daily work to the supervisors and provides them with necessary survey documents and other needs, such as questionnaires, progress forms, stationary, brief cases, … etc. He also provides the superintendent with office and field work progress reports. He should also perform final checking on a sample of questionnaires in the field as well as in the office. The inspector is the liaison between the field supervisors and the superintendent. Inspectors are selected from those with long field experience.

4. Supervisors:
   Supervisors are the team leaders in charge of implementing the daily work assignments. Each supervisor leads a team of 3-4 interviewers. He is responsible for assigning daily work to each interviewer under his mandate. He accompanies his team at all times in the field, manages and checks their work, and solves any field problems or inconveniences. He also provides the inspector with daily progress reports. Supervisors are selected from those with long field experience.

5. Interviewers:
   The major task of the interviewer is to visit the sampled households and fill in the required questionnaires. The interviewer reviews each questionnaire before leaving the household to make sure that he had covered all applicable questions. Interviewers are selected from among university graduates with relevant subject matter specializations.

6. Editors:
   Editors are in charge of reviewing the questionnaires and detecting errors, if any, and returning erroneous ones to the field whenever possible. The editors communicate with the superintendent and the survey administration through supervisors and inspectors for technical consultations and to speed the work progress.

Selection and Training of Staff

The supervisory and executive levels of the survey staff were selected according to their past experience in censuses and surveys, familiarity with geographic areas, and educational qualification. It is noteworthy that all survey staff were university graduates.

The survey administration designed a training plan for the different levels of survey staff before fielding the survey. A classroom-training program was held in the survey headquarters. The program focused on survey objectives, data collection procedures, confidentiality of data, and how to deal with households and overcome difficulties. The program also included a detailed explanation of the questionnaire inputs, concepts and instructions related to data collection and field editing. The staff was trained on supervisory tasks, organization of work, required specific tasks and assignments, sampling method and distribution of work over the Country. The numbering system used for the household national frame and how to locate sampled households were also explained. Then a special training course on how to use PDA for data collection and on how to handle the electronic questionnaire was conducted.

In addition to the above training, further classroom and field practices demonstrated how to fill in the questionnaire using the PDA. Errors emerged from these applications were detected and explained to the field staff. The training program lasted for 10 days.

An additional training program was designed for office processors (editors and coders) on editing rules and data consistency checks. The coders were also trained on coding rules and procedures. Also, computer specialists trained keyers on data entry and verification and selected office-processing staff on how to detect and correct error lists.

Data Collection Stage

1. Organization of Field Work: The fieldwork was organized in a way that ensured complete control, accuracy and consistency of field logistics to obtain high quality data.

2. Method of Data Collection: The established mechanism and logistics of fieldwork can be described as follows:
   The inspector delivers to the supervisors the work area under their mandate and other requirements, such as PDAs. The supervisor familiarizes himself with the work area using the prepared maps and sketches. The supervisor accompanies his team daily to the field and assigns the adjacent dwellings and sampled households to his team members in order to minimize distances and to maximize production of the interviewers. The supervisor should move continuously in the assigned area to oversee work progress, check questionnaires, attend actual interviews, and solve problems that emerge in the field.

3. Field Editing: Among the major tasks of the supervisor he has to organize and fill in daily and weekly work progress forms and deliver them to the inspector. The inspector, in turn, submits such forms to the superintendent, who delivers them to the survey executive director. The latter oversees, assesses and compares these forms against the work plan with the superintendent and makes the necessary modifications. The completed questionnaires are edited daily in the field for completeness and consistency to make sure that all sample households have been visited. Then the data transferred from the PDAs to the PCs in the regional offices in order to send the data electronically to the head office in Amman.
   The field inspector is in charge of administering all field operations and supervisors in the area under his mandate, and monitors their work progress according to the work plan. He prepares daily progress reports and checks the quality of data by editing a sample of the completed questionnaires. The inspector also maintains communication with the survey administration, exchanges views or consultancies regarding work progress and field problems. It is noteworthy that the survey administration staff often visited the field staff at work areas in different governorates to oversee their performance and work progress as well as to help in solving any difficulties or problems.