Assessment of family planning programme effects on births: Preliminary results obtained through direct matching of birth and programme acceptor records

Abstract In order to match birth and family planning acceptance records and thereby to obtain estimates of pre- and post-acceptance fertility, use is made of seven-digit national identity card numbers, issued to all adult West Malaysians. These unique numbers are recorded on live-birth records and national family planning programme acceptor records of West Malaysian women. The application and preliminary results of this method of direct computer matching of these sets of records for assessing the effects of a family planning programme on fertility are described. Pre- and post-acceptance fertility rates are presented in terms of contraceptive methods used, and the key characteristics of race and age of programme acceptors, and are discussed in terms of marital duration and number of children at the time of acceptance.     

A comparison of different survey techniques for obtaining vital data in A developing country

This article presents estimates of the sources and the extent of observation errors in different questionnaires and methods used to collect birth and death data in the 1961-63 multi-purpose sample survey of Morocco.The questionnaires used in the analysis of the three survey rounds were a list of household members (Rounds1 and 2) and a roll-call (Round3); retrospective death (Rounds1, 2, and 3) and birth (Round 3) queries; a date-of-birth tabulation (Round 2); and a household check-sheet to explain differences between Rounds 1 and 2. All available questionnaires for a given household were brought together and collated to provide several sources of information on births and deaths and a basis for assessing errors.From this analysis, the survey attempted to define the nature and to estimate the frequency of the errors which would have occurred if more restricted types of survey design had been used. Results, based on the period between Rounds 1 and 2, led to three major conclusions.First, if vital data had been collected with a single-round retrospective procedure, gross error (over enumeration plus underenumeration) would have been 17 percent for births and 36 percent for deaths. There is a net error of overenumeration of 3 percent for births (1.4 per1,000population) and 9 percent for deaths (2.3 per1,000population).Second, if two rounds were available to permit a combination of household composition follow-up and a retrospective mortality questionnaire, overenumeration would be almost entirely eliminated and underenumeration would be noticeably reduced. Third, most of the remaining errors of underestimation may be attributed to (1) an estimated number of infants born and deceased between two rounds and missed by all questionnaires, (2) matching failures caused by the absence of adults at Round 1, and (3) matching errors.     

A REGRESSION- TYPE ESTIMATOR IN SAMPLING WITH PPS AND WITH REPLACEMENT

A regression-type estimator is proposed for the population total of a character y , when sample-units are selected with probability proportional to some measure of size z (pps) and with replacement; and the information on yet another variate x is used. The proposed estimator is shown to be superior to the well-known estimator (pps with replacement), and the ratio estimator (pps with replacement). It is also shown to be superior to the simple random estimator under some general conditions.     

Residential Differences in Filial Responsibility Expectations Among Older Persons1

Abstract This study examines variation in filial responsibility expectations-the extent to which adult children are expected to assist and care for their aging parents-among a sample of 440 older persons. The analysis focuses on the relationship of filial responsibility expectations to residential location and tests the hypothesis that older rural residents have higher expectations for assistance from their children than do older urbanites. Current residential location is found to have little impact on expectations, but older persons who were raised in rural areas, particularly on farms, have significantly higher expectations for filial assistance than do older persons from urban backgrounds. Possible consequences of these patterns for the transmission of expectations from parents to children are discussed.     

Statistical morphology

This paper first introduces a parametric model for the generation of stationary random correlated binary sequences. The parameters of the model include the probability that a pixel is a binary one pixel and the length of the structuring element which dilates the initially spatially uncorrelated sequence. The spatial statistics of such eroded, dilated, opened and closed correlated binary sequences are derived in terms of the spatial statistics of the input binary sequence. Understanding of such one-dimensional processing is a precondition for understanding what happens in the more interesting two- dimensional case.     

A comparison of alternative rate estimators in some frequently used growth models

This paper deals with the linear, exponential and Gompertz models and compares the bias and variance of a number of estimators of the growth-rate parameters of these models. Some of these estimators have been commonly recommended in the literature and others are most frequently used in empirical practice. The present analysis points to the strengths and weaknesses of the estimators in their usage.