Methods of obtaining vital data in developing countries

Abstract

Methods of collecting vital data may be classified as active or passive. Active methods involve sending enumerators to make systematic enquiries among households; in passive methods, the household is itself expected to make the report to some central point whenever an event occurs. If annual data are wanted on a nationwide "basis, an active procedure is obviously too expensive. Thus we find in, developing countries the tendency to limit active methods a sample, arid the desire to move; towards a passive method as fast as possible. However, the passive method presents the obvious problem: how to persuade the population to report.