National Population Commission (NPopC) Aspects of Quality Assurance Plan next Nigerian Population and Housing Census National Population Commission (NPopC) A Presentation at United Nations Regional Workshop on the 2020 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses: International Standards and Contemporary Technologies Lagos, Nigeria, 8-11 May 2017

Introduction Quality assurance is an important component of the whole census process to ensure credibility of the results. The Quality Assurance for the next Census will ensure that outputs to be delivered are of high quality, consistent with modern demographic principles and international best practices and in a timely manner. These principles will be built into every component of the census process. This presentation covers some major components of the proposed Quality Assurance Plan for next census in Nigeria.

Attributes of quality assurance Relevance Accuracy Timeliness and punctuality Accessibility and clarity Comparability and coherence Interpretability

Quality of census processes Development of QA and improvement programme to measure quality of each stage of the census Pre-enumeration Questionnaire design Census Mapping, Enumeration, Data capture, Editing, Tabulation and Data dissemination.

The key to quality assurance and improvement is to be able to regularly measure the timeliness and accuracy of a given process so that the process can be improved when a fall in quality is indicated

QA Strategy to ensure complete coverage Use of satellite imagery for census mapping Involvement of community leaders in identifying locality boundaries during fieldwork Digitizing of all boundaries before leaving the field Signing off of completed list of localities by the Chairman of the Local Government Area after demarcation

QA for data capture, coding, editing and imputation Implementation of proof of concept Test the data capture devices and processes continuously Conduct series of test at each phase and evaluate the result promptly Monitor the process to dictate any error

Proposed QA Components Development of indicators to be used Field visit Preparing Reports and feedback Development of checklists Technical supervision Periodic review of strategies Quality assurance guidelines for each product or service should be laid out when contracting out

Aspects of QA Plans implemented Questionnaire design Users’ consultation and involvement Implementation of Proof of concept Planning for Census mapping methodology Census mapping EAD QA Strategy

EAD QUALITY ASSURANCE STRATEGY An independent team different form the EAD field functionaries The function the team are: Conduct field checks real time Detection of procedural flaws, variations, deviations Analysis of flaws & recommendation for corrections Checking of completed digitized EA maps Preparation & submission of QA reports to the Commission through the DG Undertake other duties assigned by the DG.

EAD Quality Assurance Process The QA team were part of the EAD training at all levels to understand the expected procedure and standard. The team prepared field observatory check schedules to be used to measure adherence and standard of EAD output. Trained all QA assistance on the use of the field observatory check schedules. Using a statistical Quality Control sampling procedure sample of EAs demarcated by all teams were sampled centrally by a statistician. On daily basis, the sampled EAs are sent to the QA officers for verification and check (the population threshold, building identification, numbering etc).

EAD Quality Assurance Process Cont. The QA officer on daily basis debrief the EAD coordinator and the supervisors whose work are checked. Immediate recommendations are made which may include re-demarcation by teams with much defectives. Daily report of incidents are made to the QA team lead by all state QA officers. Where need be the EAD manager’s attention is called to incidents that may affect the quality of output Statistical analysis of values obtained by QA team are compared with what the EAD team obtained. An overall report are written at each stage and discussed with the EAD management team. The field check schedule is modified from one phase to the other based on field observations.

Quality assurance circle Measure quality Identify most important quality problem Identify root cause of the problem Implement corrective action

Conclusion We sincerely believe for an accurate, reliable and acceptable census in Nigeria the QA component must be implemented at each stage of the Population and Housing process

Thank you