In 1998, UNICEF embarked on a process of helping countries assess progress for children at end-decade in relation to the World Summit for Children goals (New York, 1990).
The list of global indicators being used to assess progress at end-decade was developed through extensive consultation, both within UNICEF, particularly with Programme Division and the Regional Offices, and with WHO, UNESCO and the ILO. The global indicator list can be found in Annex 1 of the Executive Directive EXD/1999-03 dated 23 April 1999.
Mid decade experience
There are numerous sources of data for measuring progress at country level, but many either do not function well enough to give current and quality data, or do not provide the data required for assessing progress. Household surveys are capable of filling many of these data gaps. The mid-decade assessment led to 100 countries collecting data using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), household surveys developed to obtain specific mid-decade data, or via MICS questionnaire modules carried by other surveys. By 1996, 60 developing countries had carried out stand-alone MICS, and another 40 had incorporated some of the MICS modules into other surveys. The mid-decade questionnaire and manual, the countries where a standalone MICS was implemented.
The end-decade assessment
The end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual have been developed specifically to obtain the data for 63 of the 75 end-decade indicators. These draw heavily on experiences with the mid-decade MICS and the subsequent MICS evaluation. The content is organized into question modules, for countries to adopt or omit according to the data already available. The development of the end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual has drawn on an even wider spread of organizations than the mid-decade MICS. They include WHO, UNESCO, ILO, UNAIDS, the United Nations Statistical Division, CDC Atlanta, MEASURE (USAID), Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and others.
The Viet Nam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was carried by General Statistics Office of Viet Nam (GSO) in collaboration with Viet Nam Committee for Population, Family and Children (VCPFC). Financial and technical support by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
In the World Summit for children held in New York in 1990, the Government of Vietnam committed itself to the implementation of the World Declaration and Plan of Action for children.
In implementation of directive 34/1999/CT-TTg on 27 December 1999 on promoting the implementation of the end-decade goals for children, reviewing the National Plan of Action for children, 1991-2000 and designing the National Plan of Action for children, 2001-2010, in the framework of the “Development of Social Indicators” project, the General Statistical Office (GSO) has chaired and coordinated with the Viet Nam Committee for the Protection and Care for Children (CPCC) to conduct the survey evaluating the end- decade goals for children, 1991-2000 (MICS). MICS has covered a sample size of 7628 households in 240 communes and wards representing the whole country, the urban area, the rural area and the 8 geographical areas in 61 towns/provinces. Field activities to collect data lasted 2 months, May- June/2000. The survey was technically supported by statisticians from EAPRO, UNICEF regional offices, UNICEF Hanoi on sample and questionnaire designing, data input software, not least the software analyzing and calculating the estimates generalizing the results of survey.
The end-decade survey on children is aimed at.
· Providing up-to-date and reliable data to analyse the situation of children and women in 2000.
· Providing data to assess the implementation of the World summit goals for children and of the National Plan of Action for Vietnamese Children, 1991-2000.
· Serving as a basis (with baseline data and information) for development of the National Plan of Action for Children, 2001-2010.
· Building professional capacity in monitoring, managing and evaluating all the goals of child protection, care and education at all levels.
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
Households, Women, Child.
Data downloaded from MICS2 website (www.childinfo.org) on May 24, 2011
The scope of Vietnam 2000 MICS includes:
1. HOUSEHOLD MODULE:
A. Househod characteristics
B. Household listing, orphaned and vulnerable children
C. Education (for members 5 years old and over)
D. Child labour (for children 5-15 years old)
E. Maternal mortality (for members 15 years and over)
F. Water and sanitation and security of tenure and durability of housing
G. Used of Iodine salt.
2. WOMEN MODULE (15-49 years old):
A. Child mortality (for women 15-49)
B. Tetanus toxoid (for women with a live birth in the year preceding date of the interview)
C. Maternal and newborn health (for women with a live birth in the year preceding date of the interview)
D. Contraceptive use (for women 15-49 years old who are currently married or in union)
E. HIV/AIDS and knowledge (for women 15-49 years old).
3. CHILDREN MODULE:
A. Birth registration and early learning
B. Vitamin A
D. Care of illness
The 2000 MICS of Vietnam was a nationally representative sample survey.
Producers and sponsors
General Statistics Office
Ministry of Planning and Investment
United Nations Children's Fund
Unitred Nations Children's Fund
The sample for the Viet Nam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICSII) was designed to provide reliable estimates on a large number of indicators on the situation of children and women at the national level, for urban and rural areas, and for 8 regions: Red River Delta, North West, North East, North Central Coast, South Central Coast, Central Highlands, South East, and Mekong River Delta. Regions were identified as the main sampling domains and the sample was selected in two stages:
At the first stage, 240 EAs are sellected. After a household listing was carried out within the selected enumeration areas, a systematic sample of 1/3 of households in each EA was drawn. The survey managed to visit all of 240 selected EAs during the fieldwork period. The sample was stratified by region and is not self-weighting. For reporting national level results, sample weights are used.
Deviations from the Sample Design
No major deviations from the original sample design were made. All sample enumeration areas were accessed and successfully interviewed with good response rates.
8356 households were selected for the sample. Of these all were found to be occupied households and 8355 were successfully interviewed for a response rate of 100%. Within these households, 10063 eligible women aged 15-49 were identified for interview, of which 9473 were successfully interviewed (response rate 94.1%), and 2707 children aged 0-4 were identified for whom the mother or caretaker was successfully interviewed for 2680 children (response rate 99%).
Sample weights were calculated for each of the datafiles.
Sample weights for the household data were computed as the inverse of the probability of selection of the household, computed at the sampling domain level (urban/rural within each region). The household weights were adjusted for non-response at the domain level, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of households equals the total unweighted number of households. The household weight variable is called HHWEIGHT and is used with the HH data and the HL data.
Sample weights for the women's data used the un-normalized household weights, adjusted for non-response for the women's questionnaire, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of women's cases equals the total unweighted number of women's cases.
Sample weights for the children's data followed the same approach as the women's and used the un-normalized household weights, adjusted for non-response for the children's questionnaire, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of children's cases equals the total unweighted number of children's cases.
Dates of Data Collection
Data Collection Mode
Interviewers and anthropometry staff were streamed into teams, each team being comprised of 3 interviewers, 1 anthropometry staff member and 1 team leader. A three-level supervision model was observed throughout the data collection process. Level 1: Team leader supervising the quality of interviewers' and anthropometry staff member' work; Level 2: Regional supervisors examining the quality and collecting the questionnaires of teams (11 regional supervisors, each in charge of 2 teams). Level 3: the Central Steering Committee supervising the overall activities of the survey.
The questionnaires for MICS in Vietnam are based on the New York UNICEF module questionnaires with some modifications and additions to fit in with Vietnam's context and to evaluate the goals set out in the National Plan of Action. The questionnaires have been arranged in such a way as to prevent the loss of questionnaire sheets and to facilitate the logic control between the items in the modules. Questionnaires include 3 sections. Section 1: general questions to be administered to families and family members. Section 2: questions for child bearing-age women (aged 15-49). Section 3: for children under 5.
Section 1: Household questionnaire
Part A: Household information panel
Part B: Household listing form
Part C: Education
Part D: Child labour
Part E: Maternal mortality
Part F: Water and sanitation
Part G: Salt iodization
Section 2: Questionnaire for child bearing-age women
Part A: Child mortality
Part B: Tetanus toxoid (TT)
Part C: Maternal and newborn health
Part D: Contraceptive use
Part E: HIV/AIDS
Section 3: Questionnaire for children under five
Part A:Birth registration and early learning
Part B: Vitamin A
Part C: Breastfeeding
Part D: Care of illness
Part E: Malaria
Part F: Immunization
Part G: Anthropometry
Apart from the questionnaires to collect information at family level, questionnaires are also designed to gather information at community level supplementary to some indicators that can not have data collected at family level. The information garnered includes local population, socio-economic and physical conditions, education, health and progress of projects/plans of actions for children.
To minimize the errors made by data entry staff members, all the records were double- entered by two different members. Any error detected between the two entries was re-checked to find out which one is wrong.
Data cleaning started in to early September. This process was closely observed to ensure the accuracy, quality and practicality of all the data collected.
To minimize the errors due to wrong statements of respondents or wrong registration by interviewers, a cleaning programme was used to check the consistency and logic in the items of questionnaires and between the questionnaires. The cleaning programme printed out all the errors, then questionnaires were checked by qualified officials.
Estimates of Sampling Error
Estimates from a sample survey are affected by two types of errors: 1) non-sampling errors and 2) sampling errors. Non-sampling errors are the results of mistakes made in the implementation of data collection and data processing. Numerous efforts were made during implementation of the MICS - 3 to minimize this type of error, however, non-sampling errors are impossible to avoid and difficult to evaluate statistically.
Sampling errors can be evaluated statistically. The sample of respondents to the MICS - 3 is only one of many possible samples that could have been selected from the same population, using the same design and expected size. Each of these samples would yield results that different somewhat from the results of the actual sample selected. Sampling errors are a measure of the variability in the results of the survey between all possible samples, and, although, the degree of variability is not known exactly, it can be estimated from the survey results. The sampling errors are measured in terms of the standard error for a particular statistic (mean or percentage), which is the square root of the variance. Confidence intervals are calculated for each statistic within which the true value for the population can be assumed to fall. Plus or minus two standard errors of the statistic is used for key statistics presented in MICS, equivalent to a 95 percent confidence interval.
If the sample of respondents had been a simple random sample, it would have been possible to use straightforward formulae for calculating sampling errors. However, the MICS - 3 sample is the result of a two-stage stratified design, and consequently needs to use more complex formulae. The SPSS complex samples module has been used to calculate sampling errors for the MICS - 3. This module uses the Taylor linearization method of variance estimation for survey estimates that are means or proportions. This method is documented in the SPSS file CSDescriptives.pdf found under the Help, Algorithms options in SPSS.
Sampling errors have been calculated for a select set of statistics (all of which are proportions due to the limitations of the Taylor linearization method) for the national sample, urban and rural areas, and for each of the five regions. For each statistic, the estimate, its standard error, the coefficient of variation (or relative error -- the ratio between the standard error and the estimate), the design effect, and the square root design effect (DEFT -- the ratio between the standard error using the given sample design and the standard error that would result if a simple random sample had been used), as well as the 95 percent confidence intervals (+/-2 standard errors).
A series of data quality tables and graphs are available to review the quality of the data and include the following:
Age distribution of the household population
Age distribution of eligible women and interviewed women
Age distribution of eligible children and children for whom the mother or caretaker was interviewed
Age distribution of children under age 5 by 3 month groups
Age and period ratios at boundaries of eligibility
Percent of observations with missing information on selected variables
Presence of mother in the household and person interviewed for the under 5 questionnaire
School attendance by single year age
Sex ratio at birth among children ever born, surviving and dead by age of respondent
Distribution of women by time since last birth
The results of each of these data quality tables are shown in the appendix of the final report.
The general rule for presentation of missing data in the final report tabulations is that a column is presented for missing data if the percentage of cases with missing data is 1% or more. Cases with missing data on the background characteristics (e.g. education) are included in the tables, but the missing data rows are suppressed and noted at the bottom of the tables in the report (not in the SPSS output, however).
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
MICS Programme Manager
Dataset available free of charge to registered users (www.childinfo.org).
MICS2 has put greater efforts in not only properly documenting the results published in the MICS2 country reports, but also to maximize the use of micro data sets via documentation and dissemination. For those MICS2 countries that granted UNICEF direct access to the micro data sets and documentation, a rigorous process was completed to ensure internal and external consistency, basic standards of data quality, corresponding documentation and, standardization of variable and value labels across countries.
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 of the data files (for datasets obtained on-line)
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
DDI Document ID
Nguyen Quang Phuong
Nguyen Thanh Ngoc
Fe Vida N Dy-Liacco
Review of Documentation
Date of Metadata Production
DDI Document version
Version 01 (October 2011) - Slightly edited version of DDI ref.DDI-VNM-MICS-2000-v1.0