The Project and
its Objectives
The
Ministry of Social Affairs, in cooperation with the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), prepared and carried out a sample survey
project of population and housing with a view to use the results in the
elaboration of an action strategy and applied programs in the fields of
development and social services. The execution of the project took
around two and a half years, as work began in mid-March 1994 and lasted
until the end of September 1996. The main focus of the project was on:
- Determination of the basic
demographic, economic, social and occupational characteristics and
parameters of the Lebanese society by means of a field survey
involving a sample of some 65,000 households that are statistically
representative of Lebanese society in all the mohafazats and kadas
(regional and sub-regional administrative units). It is worth
pointing out, in particular, that these characteristics provide an
indispensable basis for planning and programming operations in the
economic and social development fields.
- Utilization of the statistical
results of the project in proposing and elaborating strategic
programs for economic, scientific and technical cooperation with
organizations of the United Nations system and other donors; with a
view to strengthening and promoting economic and social development
plans and action, and reconstruction activity, both physical and
human, in Lebanon.
- Building specific subsidiary
statistical samples that could be used in undertaking field studies
that deal with social, educational and occupational issues and
problems that might be needed by ministries, public departments,
universities, research institutes and civil entities.
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Definition of the
Statistical Framework and Construction of the Survey Sample
Work on the Population and Housing Survey project focused on conducting
a field study on a scientific probability sample which, in the
statistical sense, represents Lebanon as a whole. The method of
designing the sample, and its large size, also make it possible to
obtain detailed data at the level of the 6 mohafazats and 26 kadas. The
sample was designed by experts attached to the Statistics Division of
the United Nations Population Fund, with the participation of the
technical director of the project.
The
process of designing and constructing the sample involved the following
phases and steps:
- Gathering available data on
the number of households and population in the cities, towns and
villages-included in the decree on the administrative organization
of the Lebanese Republic based on a memorandum of the Council for
Reconstruction and Development on recovery planning for the
reconstruction of Lebanon which included statistics on the
distribution of the population in 1988; and statistical information
on the number of households in Lebanese towns and villages, for
1988, obtained from the Hariri Foundation.
- Drawing 637 population
conglomerations (city, town or a group of towns having a small
population), which were considered as primary observation units and
representative of the size of population conglomerations in Lebanon.
- Dividing the housing units in
each of the primary observation units into 4284 sections or
geographic enclaves.
- Drawing at random 1422
geographic enclaves, out of the 4284 enclaves forming the primary
level observation units, and considering them as second-level units
of observation
- Undertaking a comprehensive
count of households in each of the 1422 enclaves (except for 23
enclaves which could not be reached for security reasons, and
another 3 whose residents had left in the process of evacuating the
displaced).
- Drawing at random from each of
these enclaves a cluster of households, consisting initially of 50
households, each of which was considered as a final observation
unit. These constituted the units used to complete the
questionnaire. The total number of units in the household sample
amounted to 64,472 households; and the number of questionnaires that
were duly completed to 61,580, or about 95.5 percent of all sample
units.
Field Work
The preparation and execution of the project were carried out in three
phases. The first two involved the construction of the basic sample of
the field study, while in the third phase, the following tasks were
carried out:
- Preparation of the basic
questionnaire which dealt with the demographic, economic,
educational and occupational characteristics of residents in
Lebanon. This questionnaire was prepared in cooperation and
consultation with experts of the technical support team from the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), representatives of
ministries and departments concerned with statistical, demographic,
educational and economic affairs.
- Completion of the questionnaire
for each selected household in the probability sample. The
questionnaires were completed and supervised by field investigators
and supervisors, which were selected mostly from among university
graduates, and trained by members of the project technical team, and
experts of the UNFPA support team.
- Checking and coding the
collected information by a central team which was trained by one of
the experts of the UNFPA technical support team.
- Feeding the collected
information to the computer according to an automated entry and
verification program; followed by the extraction of various
statistical tables at the level of Lebanon as a whole, as well as at
the mohafazats and kadas level.
The basic findings of the
project have been issued in three forms:
- A book in two volumes
containing the tables covering Lebanon as a whole.
- A computer CD containing all
the statistical tables for Lebanon as a whole, and at the level of
individual mohafazat and kada. A computer CD containing information
on individuals and households.
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