1984 Survey

Background

In 1984, there were 34,035 people living in 5,860 households in 51 villages in Nang Rong district.  Nang Rong was selected as the site for the Community Based Integrated Rural Development project (CBIRD), a Thai government initiative seeking to improve sanitary conditions and agricultural skills for this population of primarily subsistence rice farmers.

Purpose

Assessing CBIRD's impact and effectiveness were goals of the first research projects.  The 1984 survey was the first of three comprehensive social surveys.

Scope of Work

This baseline data collection included a community survey in all 51 Nang Rong villages and a complete household census in each village to obtain information covering social, economic, and health topics on all members of all households.  The team of more than two dozen investigators included sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and medical doctors.

Data Collection Methods

The field work started in early March of 1984 and finished in late June of the same year.  The major part of the baseline survey consisted of two types of questionnaires.  The first questionnaire determined village profiles.  Purposive sampling method was used to select villages.  A group discussion method with selected village informants was employed to collect village information.  These informants included village headman, village headman assistants, village health volunteers, community development volunteers, housewives club officers, etc.

The second questionnaire, a household questionnaire, was used to collect both individual and household information.  The respondents selected for interview were either the household head or spouse.  The data collected consisted of some basic information for each individual household.  The questionnaires and codebooks are available online.

Data Available

Most of the 1984 household census can be downloaded from the public use area on our web site or from the Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) project of ICPSR at the University of Michigan. The entire longitudinal data set from 1984 (as well as 1994 and 2000) are also available by contractual agreement with the DSDR project. These data are available only to researchers with an IRB-approved plan for handling and storing sensitive data who agree to keep the data confidential. The information collected includes such variables as age, gender, education, occupation, marital status, contraceptive use, migration, amount of land owned, house renovation time, household assets, household production resources, household animal husbandry activity, household sanitation and environment status, and household members' participation in interest groups and local political issues.

Contribution to the Field

The CBIRD program aimed to improve the quality of life for Nang Rong farmers and stem the increasing tide of urban migration from Nang Rong district, one of the poorest areas in Thailand.  The multidisciplinary team of researchers who led the 1984 project recognized the significance of this time and place and its potential to advance understanding of demographic issues on many levels.  They established a solid foundation for a comprehensive longitudinal data collection effort in this district.

Funding

The Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Salaya, Thailand, received support from the International Development Research Center, Canada.