Title: Introduction
Course: Health Management, Ethics and Research - Ethiopia (Full)

Study Sessions 10 and 11 have given you some background information about the community survey which you will be undertaking in your kebele. In this study session you will learn techniques of data collection and how to manage and analyse data.

You need to approach your community survey in a systematic and organised way. If data are collected haphazardly, they will be of little value to you or the community. The first step, before you start collecting data, is to plan your survey and prepare resources such as data collection forms. The forms and other records need to be standardised so that you collect information uniformly from all the respondents. This is particularly important if some of the data is being collected by volunteers in your community; you need to ensure they all follow the same procedures. The need for good organisation continues after the initial data collection stage; for example, the completed forms will need to be stored in an organised way (Figure 12.1).

Figure 12.1  Storing health service data in an organised way using files. (Photo: I-TECH/Julia Sherburne)