NOTICE: The Mekong Economics Hanoi Office has now moved to a new address since February 2010: 9B Ngo Yen The (Lane), Nguyen Thai Hoc Street , Dong Da District, Hanoi , Vietnam
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Surveys

MKE has significant experience in the design and implementation of socioeconomic and market surveys in the Greater Mekong sub-region and is a market leader in this area. MKE has a strong capacity to form and train survey teams to collect qualitative and quantitative information through surveys of households, enterprises and government officials. MKE takes all efforts to ensure that survey information is accurate, that information collected is accurately and efficiently entered, and that final databases are user-friendly. We have a number of in-house experts and practitioners in this area as well as having an extensive network of consultants and specialists for survey development.

MKE has survey expertise in both Baseline Surveys and Other Surveys.

Baseline Surveys

Baseline surveys can take many forms, but their common characteristic is that they are conducted at the start or initial period of a project, to provide the information set for subsequently determining project impact. Baseline surveys can also produce indicators for project monitoring and evaluation, and form the basis for identifying specific project activities. The typical survey unit is the household, but enterprises, organizations and other structures (e.g. civil society) can be the subject matter of the survey effort.

 

Representative and accurate measurement is achieved through precision in survey design. A good baseline survey involves a careful specification of exactly what and how data is to be collected (through qualitative research), and a sampling frame representative of the project population (maybe with concentration on groups of particular interest within the population).

The sampling frame should, budget permitting, include a treatment (in-project) and control (similar but outside-project) group. These two groups will constitute comparative points of reference from which the counterfactual question will be answered: in the absence of the project, what would have happened? Projects are designed to deliver measurable results, and a good baseline survey must answer the counterfactual so as to measure and distinguish those results from other variables.

MKE has gained an impressive reputation in conducting baseline surveys to collect data to be used in project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes in the Greater Mekong sub-region and beyond. We are particularly strong in organizing and managing qualified local survey teams, as well as in survey instrument design, sample selection, and general quality control. Recent baseline surveys we have implemented include:

  • Timor-Leste Base-Line Study - Poverty Profiling & Monitoring for AMCAP and OCAP Projects (UNOPS, 2006)
  • Baseline Study for Cu Lao Cham Socio-Economic Research Programme (DANIDA, 2006)
  • Small Business Baseline Survey (partnered with Hong Duc University and Tra Vinh Community Development College for ILO project, 2006)
  • Project Impact Evaluation Design and Baseline Survey– Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (World Bank and DFID, 2005)
  • Tam Dao Rural Household Economic Baseline Survey (GTZ, 2005)

Other Surveys

MKE also carries out other surveys to gain data required for economic analysis and market reviews, and also to collect data at later stages of the project cycle (to carry out impact evaluations). Other MKE projects that have involved the collection of original data through surveys include: