Views from Research – No. 10 | Tackling non-standard units with Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)

Most of us can recall, relatively accurately, the quantities of consumption items we purchase; a kilo of sugar or a litre of milk. However, in many surveys in developing countries, quantities are expressed in non-standard units; such as ‘small heap of tomatoes’ and ‘medium bunch of bananas’. This leads to ambiguous item-unit combinations which are then subject to individual interpretation of what constitutes ‘small,’ ‘medium’, ‘large’.