The following description of this survey appeared in the 1991 edition of Dynamic Database: A Catalogue of Survey Data Files, Voorburg: International Statistical Institute.
This survey acted as the main pilot for the WFS programme. The practical and
methodological problems encountered in the survey are described in reference
3 below. A re-interview survey on a subsample of 371 women was conducted and
a detailed analysis of response consistency performed (see reference 4 below).
A validation of contraceptive use data against health centre records was
carried out; the results are contained in the country report.
Because of its pilot nature the questionnaire deviated from the subsequent WFS
core in a number of ways: breastfeeding was ascertained for the last birth
only; use of contraception was recorded for the last closed pregnancy interval
but not for the last closed live-birth interval; the topics of fertility
preferences and female employment were handled differently.
Among the country-specific material included in the survey are: lengths of
amenorrhoea and sexual abstinence after the last birth; detailed questions on
date of first use, duration of use and reasons for stopping for the pill, IUD,
and condom (see also Sri Lanka); wife's perception of husband's desire for
additional children.
Release Conditions
Data may be used for academic research, provided that credit is given
in any publication resulting from the research to the agency that
conducted the survey and that two copies of any publication are sent to:
Mr. Naibuku Navunisaravi
Government Statistician
Bureau of Statistics
Government Buildings
P.O. Box 2221
Suva
Fiji
Public Use Files
Available files include the household members data and dictionary, and the individual standard recode data and dictionary, in the original WFS format. In addition, the individual standard recode data and dictionary dictionary are available in ISSA format.
The table below lists the file names and descriptions.
2. Potter, J.E., Methods of Detecting Errors in WFS Data: an Application to
the Fiji Fertility Survey, in International Population Conference, Mexico
City, 1977, 1, IUSSP.
3. Sahib, M.A., N.B. Navunisaravi, R. Chandra and J.G. Cleland, The Fiji
Fertility Survey: A Critical Commentary, WFS Occasional Papers nos 15 and
16, 1975.
4. Srikantan, K.S., An Evaluation of the Fiji Fertility Survey Based on the
Post-Enumeration Survey, WFS Occasional Papers no 21, 1975.
The information provided on this Web site is not official U.S. Government information and
does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.
World Fertility Survey