Methods - Global Data Lab

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>Methods - Global Data Lab</title> <link rel="canonical" href="https://globaldatalab.org/methods/"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://globaldatalab.org/vendor/twbs/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://globaldatalab.org/vendor/twbs/bootstrap-icons/font/bootstrap-icons.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://globaldatalab.org/css/gdl.css?v7" type="text/css"> <link rel="icon" href="https://globaldatalab.org/apple-touch-icon.png" type="image/png"> </head> <body class="generic-page"> <nav id="mainNav" class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light sticky-top" aria-label="Main navigation"> <div class="container"> <a class="navbar-brand flex-grow-1" href="https://globaldatalab.org/"> <img src="https://globaldatalab.org/images/logo_gdl.svg" alt="Global Data Lab" style="height: 45px; margin-bottom: -7px"> </a> <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#mainNavigation" aria-controls="mainNavigation" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span> </button> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse justify-content-end" id="mainNavigation"> <ul class="navbar-nav mb-2 mb-lg-0"> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="menu50" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false">Instruments</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="menu50"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/areadata/">Area Database</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/">Human Development</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/geos/">Geospatial Data</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/c-cid/">Climate Cooperation</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/gvi/">GDL Vulnerability Index</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/iwi/">Wealth Index</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/sdgs/">SDG Dashboard</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/scd/">Subnational Corruption</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="menu31" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false">About</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="menu31"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/about/mission/">Mission</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/about/history/">History</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/methods/">Methods</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/team/">Team</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/students/research/">Students</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://globaldatalab.org/contact/">Contact</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://globaldatalab.org/publications/">Publications</a></li> <li class="nav-divider d-none d-lg-inline"></li> <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://globaldatalab.org/login/"><i class="bi bi-person-circle"></i> My GDL</a></li> <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://globaldatalab.org/"><i class="bi bi-house-door"></i> Home</a></li> <li class="nav-item dropdown"> <button class="btn btn-link nav-link py-2 px-0 px-lg-2 dropdown-toggle d-flex align-items-center" id="bd-theme" type="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" data-bs-display="static"> <i id="theme-icon-active" class="bi bi-light"></i> <span class="d-lg-none ms-2" id="bd-theme-text">Toggle theme</span> </button> <ul class="dropdown-menu dropdown-menu-end"> <li> <button type="button" class="dropdown-item d-flex align-items-center" data-bs-theme-value="light"> <i class="bi bi-sun-fill"></i> Light </button> </li> <li> <button type="button" class="dropdown-item d-flex align-items-center" data-bs-theme-value="dark"> <i class="bi bi-moon-stars-fill"></i> Dark </button> </li> <li> <button type="button" class="dropdown-item d-flex align-items-center active" data-bs-theme-value="auto"> <i class="bi bi-circle-half"></i> Auto </button> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="subNav"></div>  <div id="mainContent"> <div class="content-box container clearfix"> <h1>Methods</h1> <p>The GDL indicators are created by aggregation from household survey datasets. We aggregate by taking the weighted average of the values associated with a characteristic present among individuals or households within an area.</p> <p>For instance, the indicator of the educational level of the population aged 20-39 in an area is the mean years of education of the respondents in this age group in the area. And the area鈥檚 vaccination coverage is the percentage of children up to the age of one year who received a specific vaccination.</p> <p>Across indicators and areas, the sample weight factors available in the original datasets are used to get indicators that are as well as possible a representation for the areas to which they apply.</p> <h2>Geographic subdivisions</h2> <p>The subnational areas that are used for aggregation are based on the geographic information that is present in the survey datasets. The available regional coding is often, but not always, based on official administrative subdivisions used in the countries. </p> <p>Whenever possible, first-level administrative units are used, but there are many deviations. Some datasets use a coding of their own, that may consist of a combination of administrative units or be completely stand alone. Even when official classifications are used, the situation may be complicated by the fact that those classifications change over time. It often happens that new regions are created by splitting up or merging existing regions. In those cases, the subdivisions used in earlier and/or later surveys are adjusted to keep comparability over time. Such adjustments tend to imply a reduction of the number of areas. </p> <p>Reductions are also made for small datasets, to increase the number of cases on the basis of which aggregation takes place. This means that the subdivisions used in the GDL Area Database often contain fewer regions than the official ones in a given year. On average, about ten subnational regions are distinguished within a country.</p> <h2>Quality of the indicators</h2> <p>The fact that the indicators are created on the basis of household surveys implies that they are likely to suffer from bias, at least to some extent. Their quality (correctness) depends on the design, size, structure and quality of the household survey on which they are based and on the number of sub-national areas distinguished and the number of observations at the country level and within the individual subnational areas. Detailed information on survey design and quality can be obtained from the producing organizations mentioned in the data section. </p> <p>The indicators also suffer to some extent from random aggregation error, as they are based on samples of the total population. Given that no clear criteria exist for the number of cases to be used for aggregation of indicators, we provide for all our indicators in all our regions the number of persons/households on which they are based. This offers the users the possibility to make their own choices in this respect. </p> <p>Importantly, the original surveys are designed to be representative at the national and in most cases at the regional level. Even when the original surveys are not representative at the sub-national level, we still present our indicators, as they are often the only available data for the region, which we consider better than no information at all.</p> </div> </div>  <nav id="bottomNav" style="--bs-breadcrumb-divider: '>';" aria-label="Breadcrumbs"> <div class="container"> <ol class="breadcrumb"> <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/"><i class="bi bi-house-door-fill"></i> </a></li> <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/methods/">Methods</a></li> </ol> </div> </nav>  <footer> <div class="container pt-5 pb-3"> <div class="row border-bottom pb-4 d-none d-lg-flex"> <div class="col-2"> <h5>Instruments</h5> <ul class="nav flex-column"> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/areadata/" class="nav-link p-0">Area Database</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/" class="nav-link p-0">Human Development</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/geos/" class="nav-link p-0">Geospatial Data</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/c-cid/" class="nav-link p-0">Climate Cooperation</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/gvi/" class="nav-link p-0">GDL Vulnerability Index</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/iwi/" class="nav-link p-0">Wealth Index</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/sdgs/" class="nav-link p-0">SDG Dashboard</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/scd/" class="nav-link p-0">Subnational Corruption</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col-2"> <h5>About</h5> <ul class="nav flex-column"> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/about/mission/" class="nav-link p-0">Mission</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/about/history/" class="nav-link p-0">History</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/methods/" class="nav-link p-0">Methods</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/team/" class="nav-link p-0">Team</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/students/research/" class="nav-link p-0">Students</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/contact/" class="nav-link p-0">Contact</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col-2"> <h5>Other</h5> <ul class="nav flex-column"> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org" class="nav-link p-0">Publications</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/news/" class="nav-link p-0">News Archive</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/privacypolicy/" class="nav-link p-0">Privacy Policy</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/termsofuse/" class="nav-link p-0">Terms of use</a></li> <li class="nav-item mb-2"><a href="https://globaldatalab.org/login/" class="nav-link p-0">Log in</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 offset-lg-2"> <form action="https://globaldatalab.org/newsletter/" method="get" class="d-none d-lg-block"> <h5>Subscribe to our newsletter</h5> <div class="d-flex w-100 gap-2"> <label for="email" class="visually-hidden">Email address</label> <input name="email" id="email" type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Email address"> <button class="btn btn-primary" type="submit">Subscribe</button> </div> </form> <ul class="list-unstyled d-flex fs-4 mt-lg-4 justify-content-end"> <li class="ms-3"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-data-lab/" title="LinkedIn"><i class="bi bi-linkedin"></i></a></li> <li class="ms-3"><a href="https://twitter.com/globaldatalab/" title="Twitter"><i class="bi bi-twitter"></i></a></li> <li class="ms-3"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvqQcbDwKnbwheNKeSKe8Q" title="YouTube"><i class="bi bi-youtube"></i></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="d-lg-flex justify-content-between mt-lg-3"> <p class="lh-lg text-center text-lg-start mt-lg-3"> 漏 2013-2024 Global Data Lab. All rights reserved. </p> <div class="text-center"> <a href="https://www.ru.nl/imr/"> <img src="https://globaldatalab.org/images/logo_ru.svg" alt="Institute for Management Research, Radboud University" style="height: 60px"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </footer> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://globaldatalab.org/vendor/twbs/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://globaldatalab.org/javascript/color-modes.js"></script> </body> </html>

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Methods - Global Data Lab