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.