Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty

Oya, Carlos

Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

In an important article published in 2002, H. White made a case for mixed methods in poverty analysis and addressed a number of puzzles arising from conventional oppositions between quantitative and qualitative approaches. One of the examples was the relationship between household size and poverty and the related notion of household economies of scale. This paper revisits this debate and updates it with new contributions on the use and misuse of the ‘household’ in surveys and censuses, particularly in quantitative research designs. Indeed, there is much scope for improving the way quantitative survey designs treat the ‘household’ and for learning from qualitative approaches, especially in poor agrarian contexts. Some alternative approaches to the household and to sampling decisions in survey design for poverty and labour studies are proposed and their advantages and disadvantages briefly discussed.

Citation

Oya, C. Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 7(3), 336-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2015.1068358

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Jul 13, 2015
Deposit Date Jul 28, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jun 17, 2018
Journal Journal of Development Effectiveness
Print ISSN 1943-9342
Electronic ISSN 1943-9407
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 3
Pages 336-345
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2015.1068358

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations