Innovative Methodology and Tools for Automatic Matching of Population Census Data with Post-Enumeration Survey(PES) Data as Part of a Digital Data Collection Process

Yves Merlin Mbouyap Kamtcha, Bureau Central des recensements et des Etudes de Population (BUCREP)
Jean Emmanuel Njeck Maha MBomeket, Central Bureau for Censuses and Population Studies

Data collection operations for population censuses in Africa are increasingly digital. Therefore, traditional methods for data matching have become inoperative and ineffective, according to the new possibilities for improving matching offered by the digitalized process(CAPI). We have therefore, developed a new methodology and new tools that are adapted and more effective for this purpose. The methodology consists of collecting data during the Post-Enumeration Survey(PES) then, independently, matching it with data from the main enumeration directly on the field in order to immediately facilitate any reconciliation. The new methodology is accompanied by an innovative computer system called Search and Match System(SMS), which we developed specifically for the PES and which can easily be deployed on a laptop anywhere. This system also enables results of matching process to be transferred to a server from all laptops deployed on the field. It also has a dashboard for monitoring, controlling of fields operations and downloading matching results from headquarters. Thus, matching is made more efficient, more secured and faster, which significantly improves quality of indicators obtained and reduces costs and time. Since 2018, SMS has already been used to carry out PES in seven countries (Cameroon, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Congo and Burundi).

Keywords: Census data, Comparative methods , Computational social science methods, Digital and computational demography

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