Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
Survey Design Workshop
MICS: Past, Present and Future
MICS Survey Design Workshop
Past: Some History
Global household survey programmes
• Since 1970s
• Multi-topic, multiple indicator surveys
 World Fertility Surveys (1970s, early 1980s)
 Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (1980s)
 Demographic and Health Surveys (since
1980s, USAID)
 MICS (since 1995, UNICEF)
 Reproductive Health Surveys (since 1990s,
CDC – now discontinued)
Global household survey programmes
• Thematic surveys
 Living Standards Measurement Surveys LSMS (World Bank)
 Malaria Indicator Surveys – MIS (RBM
Malaria)
 AIDS Indicator Surveys - AIS (USAID)
 SMART surveys (Nutrition)
 others
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
• Developed by UNICEF in the early 1990s to respond to data
needs for the World Summit for Children Goals
• Since 1995, evolved into an ongoing global survey programme
with
– collection of data on multiple globally agreed-upon
indicator sets; MDGs, WSC, WFFC indicators…
– an institutionalized technical coordination and support
system, including
• a Global MICS team with coordinators and survey
experts in New York and all regions
– full package of MICS-specific survey instruments
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
• Face to face interviews, observations, measurements
• Representative data based on probabilistic samples
• Modular structure of questionnaires, easily customized
to country needs
• Low, middle and high income countries
Technical Support and Quality Assurance
• Global MICS Team
– UNICEF New York MICS Team
– Survey Coordinators in 7 UNICEF Regional Offices
• Global and Regional Experts (20+)
• UNICEF Country Offices + UNICEF MICS
Consultant (Resident)
• Implementing agencies (NSOs)
Technical Support and Quality Assurance
• Regional Workshops, on:
– Survey Design
– Data Processing
– Data Dissemination and Further Analysis
• On-site and off-site support by UNICEF MICS staff
members and consultants
• Standard survey tools – from documents on
governance to dissemination of results
• Quality control mechanisms at every step in the
survey process
MICS: 1995-2009
•MICS1: 1995
– 60 countries
– Emphasis on World Summit for Children
Goals
– Minimum technical support
– Global evaluation
MICS: 1995-2009
•MICS2: 2000
– 59 countries
– Emphasis on World Summit for Children
goal
– Increased technical support, better
standardization of survey tools
MICS: 1995-2009
•MICS3: 2005-2009
– 54 surveys
– Emphasis on World Fit for Children Goals,
MDGs, and plus
– A “system” for quality assurance and
technical support
2010-2012
MICS 2010-2012
•Emphasis on MDGs, other globally
recommended indicators, and
– Emerging issues: adolescents, early
childhood development, life
satisfaction….
•59 surveys conducted
MICS Surveys by Region: 2010-2012
12
11
10
7
7
7
5
CEECIS
East Asia
Pacific
Eastern-Southern
Africa
Middle East
North Africa
South
Asia
Latin America Western-Central
Caribbean
Africa
MICS 2010-2012
59
National
43
Selected population group
4
Selected area/region
12
30
26
25
20
15
15
1
50001 or more
3
20001-50000
Number of Completed Households
Total
10001-20000
17
5001-10000
17
9
10
6
6
3000-5000
5
0
More than
95%
90-95%
85-89%
Less than 85%
Completion Rates
11
Less than 3000
0
5
10
15
20
MICS Countries – Overview (2010-2012)
• Low and middle/high income countries
• Chad, Mali, Costa Rica, Serbia, Qatar, Argentina
• Emergency or post-emergency settings
• Somalia, Iraq, Sudan
• New to MICS (Bhutan, Mali), all MICS
rounds (Serbia, Gambia), “returning”
countries (Moldova, Afghanistan)
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
Since 1995, more than 100 countries and around 240 surveys*
Period
#
Surveys
1995-1999
60
2000-2004
59
MICS4
2005-2009
54
MICS1-3
2010-2012
59
*As of February 2013 – includes surveys in progress with fieldwork completion in 2013
Countries with at least one MICS survey, including sub-national surveys
As of February 2013
MICS in Global Databases
Most recent data points on selected indicators
MICS
DHS
Other
Early childhood development
100
0
0
Child discipline
79
8
13
ORT and continued feeding
50
48
2
Birth registration
47
38
15
Care-seeking for pneumonia
45
48
7
Child marriage
37
51
12
ITN use
33
32
35
Antimalarial treatment
33
41
26
Skilled attendant at delivery
31
51
18
Underweight prevalence
24
34
42
Source: UNICEF Global Databases
MICS List of Indicators
MICS INDICATOR [M]
Module Numerator
Denominator
MN
Number of women with a live birth in the 2
years preceding the survey who breastfed
the child at any time
Total number of women with a live
birth in the 2 years preceding the
survey
2.5
Early initiation of
breastfeeding
MN
Number of women with a live birth in the 2
years preceding the survey who put the
newborn infant to the breast within 1 hour of
birth
Total number of women with a live
birth in the 2 years preceding the
survey
2.6
Exclusive breastfeeding
under 6 months
BF
Number of infants under 6 months of age
who are exclusively breastfed
Total number of infants under 6
months of age
2.7
Continued breastfeeding
at 1 year
BF
Number of children age 12-15 months who
are currently breastfeeding
Total number of children age 12-15
months
2.8
Continued breastfeeding
at 2 years
BF
Number of children age 20-23 months who
are currently breastfeeding
Total number of children age 20-23
months
2.9
Predominant
breastfeeding under 6
months
BF
Number of infants under 6 months of age
who received breast milk as the predominant Total number of infants under 6
source of nourishment during the previous
months of age
day
2.10
Duration of breastfeeding
BF
The age in months when 50 percent of children age 0-35 months did not receive
breast milk during the previous day
BF
Number of children age 0-23 months who
were fed with a bottle during the previous
day
2.4
Children ever breastfed
2.11
Bottle feeding
Total number of children age 0-23
months
Disaggregation
Data collection
through MICS is a
primary source of
disaggregated data
MICS provides data for
more than 100 indicators
which can be
disaggregated by:
• geozones
• residence (urban, urbanpoor, rural)
• gender
• education
• age
• wealth
• ethnicity/religion/language
• other stratifiers
• combinations of the above
HOUSEHOLD
QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR INDIVIDUAL
WOMEN
(AGE 15-49)
QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR CHILDREN
UNDER-5
(AGE 0-4)
QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR INDIVIDUAL
MEN
(AGE 15-49)
Household
Women
Social and demographic characteristics
Fertility
Children’s living arrangements / Orphans
Child mortality
Education
Antenatal care
Water and Sanitation
Delivery care
Household assets, dwelling characteristics
Post-natal health checks
Use of mosquito nets
Contraception, unmet need
Child labour
Female genital mutilation/cutting
Child discipline
Maternal mortality
Handwashing
Women and Men
Salt
iodization
Under-5s
Attitudes towards domestic violence
Birth registration
Marriage
Early childhood development
Sexual behaviour
Diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria
Immunization
Breastfeeding and dietary intake
Anthropometry
HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes
Access to mass media/ICT
Tobacco and alcohol use
Life satisfaction
Literacy and education
Household
Women
Social and demographic characteristics
Fertility
Children’s living arrangements / Orphans
Child mortality
Education
Antenatal care
Water and Sanitation
Delivery care
Household assets, dwelling characteristics
Post-natal health checks
Use of mosquito nets
Contraception, unmet need
Child labour
Child discipline
21 MDG
indicators
Female genital mutilation/cutting
Maternal mortality
Handwashing
Women and Men
Salt
iodization
Under-5s
Attitudes towards domestic violence
Birth registration
Marriage
Early childhood development
Sexual behaviour
Diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria
Immunization
HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes
Access to mass media/ICT
Tobacco and alcohol use
Breastfeeding and dietary intake
Life satisfaction
Anthropometry
Literacy and education
Household
Women
Social and demographic characteristics
Fertility
Children’s living arrangements / Orphans
Child mortality
Education
Antenatal care
Water and Sanitation
Delivery care
Household assets, dwelling characteristics
Post-natal health checks
Use of mosquito nets
Contraception, u n m e t n e e d
Child labour
Child discipline
Handwashing
Major methodological
work in the last 3-4
years to develop
validated survey tools
FGM/C
Maternal mortality
Women and Men
Salt
iodization
Under-5s
Attitudes towards domestic violence
Birth registration
Marriage
Early childhood development
Sexual behaviour
Diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria
Immunization
HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes
Access to mass media/ICT
Tobacco and alcohol use
Breastfeeding and dietary intake
Life satisfaction
Anthropometry
Literacy and education
Ongoing methodological work
• Development of modules/protocols for
– Rapid water testing
– External economic support
– Child disability
• Survey tools
– Tablet assisted interviewing
– Improved protocols for anthropometric training
– Oversampling of households with under-5s,
special population groups
MICS and DHS
• Close collaboration between survey programs for
harmonization of survey tools
• Up to 75 percent of indicators in the MICS list can be
generated in DHS surveys
• Differences mainly in the areas of child protection,
reproductive health, biomarkers, education, data on
orphans & foster children, mode of technical assistance
• Technically easy to add modules from one onto the other
• Several countries alternating: Ghana, DRC, Cameroon,
and others
MICS and DHS
• Hancioglu A, Arnold F (2013) Measuring
Coverage in MNCH: Tracking Progress in
Health for Women and Children Using DHS
and MICS Household Surveys.
PLoS Med 10(5): e1001391.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001391
MICS and Other Survey Programmes
• Limited harmonization with LSMS
• Major methodological differences, eligible
respondents, nature of data collected makes it
difficult to add from one to the other
• Thematic surveys (MIS, AIS, SMART surveys)
collect more detailed information on themes
of interest, MICS and DHS collect the
minimum needed on a comparable basis
Future: Final MDG Reporting and
MICS Surveys 2013-2014
Timeline for global reporting on MDGs
2012
2013
2014
2015
Data compilation and analysis
June-August 2014
Deadline for Conducting Fieldwork
for Household Surveys
End of First Quarter 2014
Submission of data for SG’s report
March 2015
SG’s MDG Report launch
September 2015
Typical MICS Survey timeline
# of months
6 months
Activity
Planning and Design
(timeline dependent on
country setting)
2-4 months
3-6 months
Fieldwork (collection of data)
Survey results
(most data on MDGs included)
6 months
Final Results
From completion of fieldwork to
generation of survey results
3-6 months
2013-2014: Timelines
•
•
•
•
•
•
Global Pilot Survey (Bangladesh, May-June 2012)
Finalize survey instruments
…and supporting documents (by March 2013)
Assessment of data gaps, dialogue with governments
Regional Workshops
Survey Implementation
– 2013 - First quarter 2014 at the latest for surveys servicing
MDG reporting
– 2013 and 2014 for all other surveys
2013-2014: Regional Workshops
Survey Design Workshops
Kathmandu
March 2013
South Asia, East Asia/Pacific, CEECIS
Dakar
March-April 2013 Sub-Saharan Africa
Amman
April 2013
Middle East, North Africa
Managua
May 2013
Latin America/Caribbean
Dubai
June-July 2013
Global
Data Processing Workshops
Bangkok
June 2013
Global
Dakar
July 2013
Sub-Saharan Africa
??
September
Global
2013-2014: Regional Workshops
• Survey Design and Data Processing Workshops at end
of 2013, early 2014 for countries conducting surveys in
mid to late 2014
• Data Dissemination and Further Analysis Workshops
from early 2014 to early 2015
• 40 surveys confirmed, more to join
2015 and beyond
• Complete reports of surveys conducted in
2014
• Post-2015 agenda
• New survey tools
• Current UNICEF strategic plan including MICS:
2014-2017
Thank You