Peer Review

Demographic and Health Surveys

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Reviewed:: May 21, 2020 by Sociology

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Ratings

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: Begun in 1984, the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) project is the third consecutive worldwide research project initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide data and analysis on the population, health, and nutrition of women and children in developing countries. Its two predecessors, the World Fertility Survey (WFS) and the Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (CPS), paved the way for the DHS project by focusing their research on questions related to fertility, family planning, and mortality.
Type of Material:: Reference Material. The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program has collected, analyzed, and disseminated accurate and representative data on population, health, HIV, and nutrition through more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries. - See more at: http://dhsprogram.com/#sthash.uiGCVEuh.dpuf
Recommended Uses:: This webpage would most likely be used as a resource to assist in student research outside of class. It would only be sufficient if the assignment is geared to demographic analysis of health issues in the populations of one or more nations. A team approach can be used for the comparative analysis of country populations. This can be done by students each taking a different country or by each student applying their research category to a variety of countries. The webpage is self paced. The instructor can choose to demonstrate the webpage easily in class.
Technical Requirements:: There do not appear to be any technical requirements to browse the site and it appears to work with all modern browsers. Users who dig deeper into the site and wish to download datasets may need to register to download files and may need statistical analysis software and knowledge.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The Demographic and Health Surveys Program (DHS) site provides survey and statistical data from over 90 countries. The purpose of the site is to provide data and publications that can support learning goals and activities in a variety of courses. DHS provides a range of student resources to support this.
Target Student Population:: College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Some computer and statistical analysis skills will be required for users wishing to download and use data sets.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: The data sets available provide a broad range of countries and have been collected over several years allowing for longitudinal analysis. The breadth of data and information provided allows for several different learning activities. Under each category of surveys are hotlinks for a variety of types of information gleaned from the surveys for each country covered. Each hotlink also points to current articles and studies which address the issues.The information is clearly being updated on a regular basis.
Concerns:: The only deficiency is the current limit of nations covered, but the list is expanding. It is noted that the site and amount of information provided may be overwhelming and difficult to navigate for lower level courses or students new to searching data sets. More targeted assignments/resource utilization may be beneficial here.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The webpage provides a number of hotlinks at the top of its homepage. These allow the student to download a number of instruments used in the surveys, modules on data analysis and pertinent information from the data. All of these are easy to navigate.
Concerns:: None.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: Overall, the site is easy to use. The information is current and clearly updated. There are numerous links to a variety of related webpages.
Concerns:: The site assumes the user is familiar with surfing the web and the layout is user friendly. For the most part, that is the case, but might be confusing to some students.

Other Issues and Comments:: Although there is a great deal of ease in navigation, the number of specific categories can be expanded to allow students with assignments beyond demographics to have a greater ease of navigation.
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