Individual Household Questionnaire
Individual Household questionnaires give insight into how specific families obtain seed for major crops. They highlight differences among households: for example, those headed by women versus men; those with different size cultivated areas and those who are resident versus internally displaced (if applicable). The household questionnaire is designed to gather key quantitative information which can complement (triangulate) some of the other qualitative SSSA information sources. This section also includes the automatic data analysis software, which generates instant results.
Tips for use
- This questionnaire has been tailored to get the minimal quantitative information needed on seed sourcing. Each questionnaire should take about 30 minutes to administer. Depending on variation within an area, the SSSA teams might interview 60-80 households;
- Before implementing this questionnaire, the SSSA team needs to agree on basic terminology around seed and variety and on measures to be used. See file: local terminology and seed unit measures.
- Before implementing this questionnaire, the SSSA team needs to understand the qualitative codes for why farmers plant more or less than normal. See: Code sheet for question comparing areas sown below.
- The automatic data analysis software is accompanied by a guide on how the tool will help to enter, clean, and analyze questionnaires.
Individual Household Questionnaire (Field tips and data collection)
Download below the actual individual household survey. Note that several items may need to be tailored for use in a specific context.
- Header section: geographic units
- Area cultivated: the size of the categories
- Part I. Date of current/most recent season
- Part II. Date of next season
- Part III Dates of current and next season for:
- Fertilizer use
- Pesticide use
- Compost/manure use
- Storage chemical use
- Part III. Dates for period prior to ‘last season’ when crops may have been stored. This is to determine actual storage losses during a given period
Code sheet for question comparing areas sown: current season versus ‘normal’ period
Among other issues, the individual questionnaire asks farming families if they are sowing more, less or the same of a crop ‘as usual’ for a given season. It also asks why (why this amount)? These questions are important for understanding family agricultural strategy as well as constraints and opportunities for getting the seed they need. This code sheet lists the possible responses.
Tips for use
- The code sheet helps the SSSA team record the nuances of why families might be sowing less (codes 1-19) or more (20 and above) than usual during a comparable season (i.e. same season in calendar year). Note that ‘there is no seed or ‘we ate all the seed’ is NOT a sufficient answer as farmers can potentially get more seed—from market or neighbors or agro-dealers. So the key here is to probe for the compelling reason.
Individual Household Questionnaire (Data entry and analysis).
This tool is an important innovation in SSSAs. The Excel spreadsheet is designed specifically to use with the individual household questionnaires. The tool facilitates rapid entry of the questionnaire data, helps limit – and clean – mistakes, and gives results instantly. This means that SSSA teams can discuss results while still in the field. The automated tool produces many tables of key findings, which are formatted to use immediately in presentations and reports.
Tips for use
- A detailed guide explains how to use this tool, manage all processes, and interpret the results. It should be read by SSSA team leaders, and team members responsible for data entry, data analysis, and report writing.
- The Excel tool below is a template for data entry and analysis. The guide above explains in detail how to use this tool effectively.
- This version of the questionnaire form shows where data entry variable names from the spreadsheet are found on the survey form. This form is intended for data entry teams, and is NOT for COLLECTING data from the field. The household survey for field data collection is here.