The Importance of Cleaning Data During Fieldwork: Evidence from Mozambique

In many small-scale surveys with limited resources, data editing is usually conducted by a statistician after data collection has concluded. Including the statistician and the data editing process in the data collection phase of the survey has many benefits. This paper describes a procedure for survey implementation of small-scale surveys in which the statistician identifies and edits the data as it is collected. We implemented this procedure during a household survey conducted in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and detailed data on the editing process was recorded. This article analyzes this data to gain insight into the effects on the collected data. The results of the analysis indicate that the edited data may be of higher quality than data without edits. We also identify areas of improvement in the procedure for future household surveys.