Presentation template for adaptation and use in medicine prices and

availability survey training workshop for survey personnel

Review all slides carefully for applicability to your survey before use!

Data collection procedures

Medicine prices and availability survey

Training workshop
Location, dates
 Preparing for data collection

Key activities for area supervisors:

1. Schedule data collection visits
2. Prepare Medicine Price Data Collection
forms needed for field visits
3. Prepare information materials and tools
for data collectors
4. Arrange for regular communications
 1. Planning data collection visits
Who? Area supervisors
• Contact (ideally in person, or by phone) each sample
outlet and back-up facility to seek permission for data
collection
– Introduce the survey and its objectives
– Use the letters of endorsement and introduction provided by
the survey manager
– Stress that individual medicine outlets will not be identified in
the results

• If medicine outlet refuses to participate, alert survey

manager who will contact the outlet directly, and if
necessary, provide you with a alternative outlet
– Luckily, this rarely happens
 Planning data collection visits (continued)
Who? Area supervisors

• Make appointments for data collection visits, avoiding peak

hours of activity
• Plan for 1-2 hours for each data collection visit, plus travel time
• Prepare a schedule for each pair of data collectors, including:
– Date and time of each visit
– Name, number, sector, and contact person for each medicine outlet
– Address and location of each medicine outlet
– Contact information for back-up facility to be visited if < 50% of
medicines are available
• Call each facility and confirm appointment the day before
 Sample schedule for data collection team
Survey Area: Eastern Region

Date and Name of Contact Location Sector Number Back-up outlet

time of medicine person name and
appoint outlet contact details
ment
March ABC Mrs. 45 Main private 01 Main St.
23rd, Pharmacy Nguyen Street Chemist
13h00 59 Main
Street
Eastern
City
Mr. Shah
 2. Preparing Medicine Price Data Collection forms
Who? Area supervisors

• Medicine list and data collection form will be

finalized by survey manager after pilot test
• Make enough copies of the data collection
form for each sample facility, back-up facility,
and validation visit
• Data collection forms should preferably be
colour-coded by sector
• Complete front page of each form
To be
completed
by area
supervisors
before data
collection
visit
 3. Prepare materials for data collectors
Who? Area supervisor
1. A list of data collection teams and contact information
2. The contact details of their area supervisor, including a mobile phone
number to call in case of difficulty in the field
3. A schedule of visits to survey sites
4. The contact details of the sites to be visited
5. Details of back-up facilities to be visited if scheduled visits are not
possible, or less than 50% of the medicines are available
6. Copies of letter(s) of endorsement and letter of introduction
7. Relevant handouts or instruction sheets
8. A Medicine Price Data Collection form for each sample medicine outlet to
be visited that day
9. A Medicine Price Data Collection form for each back-up site that may
need to be visited that day
10. A calculator for calculating the unit price of medicines
11. Pens (pencils should not be used to record data), a clipboard and other
supplies
12. A notebook to record any significant events or findings
13. Field allowance for local expenses
 4. Arrange for regular communications
Who? Area supervisors

• Provide data collectors with a mobile phone and

phone number where they can contact you
during data collection
• Arrange to meet with data collectors at the end
of each day of data collection
 Data Collection
Who? Data collectors
Before going out to collect data each day:
• Check that you have all necessary materials for data collection

On arrival at the medicine outlet:

• introduce yourself and present the letter(s) of endorsement and
the letter of introduction.
• Check that information about the medicine outlet on Page 1 of
the data collection form is correct
• Enter the following information on Page 1 of the data collection
form:
– Date
– Name(s) of the person(s) who provided information
– Names of data collectors
To be
completed
by data
collectors
during data
collection
visit
 Data Collection (continued)
Who? Data collectors
• Collect data with the aid of the person in charge at the facility
• Fill in the Medicine Price Data Collection Form (1 per outlet)
• If customers arrive, pause the survey and let them be served

Never leave the local data collection form at a

medicine outlet to be filled in later!

Before leaving the facility:

• Check that data collection form is legible, accurate and complete
• Check whether less than 50% of medicines were available at the outlet. If
so, contact the area supervisor who will instruct you on visiting a back-up
facility

At the end of each day of data collection:

• Meet with your area supervisor
• Submit completed data collection forms and report back on your activities
 At the end of each day of data collection
Who? Area supervisors
• Meet with data collectors to collect completed forms and resolve any
problems encountered

• Review each data collection form completed that day:

– to make sure they are complete and legible
– to verify missing or suspicous information
– to make sure that a back-up facility has been visited if fewer than 50% of
medicines were available in a sample outlet

• Uncertain or illegible data should be checked with data collectors, may

need to re-contact medicine outlet to clarify

• Sign the first page of each form to record that it has been checked, but
only once you are sure that data is complete, legible and there are no
obvious mistakes
 Validation of data collection
Who? Area supervisors
• Validate data by re-conducting the survey in 20% of public and
private sector outlets. If there are 5 public outlets and 5 private
outlets per survey area, conduct validation in:
– one public medicine outlet per survey area
– one private medicine outlet per survey area
• Select medicine outlets for validation at random
• Conduct the validation visits on the same day as the visits to
these outlets by data collectors
• After collecting data, compare your results to those of data
collectors. Resolve any mistakes and discuss with data
collectors
 Calculation of unit prices
Who? Data collectors and area supervisors
• Unit price is the price per cap, tab, ml, dose, gram, etc.
oral: price per capsule or tablet, NOT per box or strip
inhalers: price per dose, NOT per inhaler
liquids: price per ml, NOT per bottle

• Unit price = price of pack / pack size

• During data collection, data collectors may need to calculate
unit prices of some medicines to identify the lowest priced
generic
• Area supervisors calculate unit prices for all medicines after
data collection
• Any unit prices calculated by data collectors should be
double checked by the area supervisor
 No Out of stock

Amitriptyline Cosmos Yes 110 3.80 0.0345

• For each product, divide the Price of Pack Found (Column H) by the Pack Size
Found (Column G).
• Retain at least four digits after the decimal point.
• Enter the calculated unit prices in Column I and double-check the calculations.
E.G: Unit price for lowest price generic amitriptyline = 3.80 /110 = 0.0345
 Storing completed data collection forms
Who? Area supervisors
• Completed forms should be copied and stored in
waterproof plastic bags in the field
• Originals should be stored in a separate location
from copies
• All original data collection forms, including those for
validation visits (label clearly!), should be
transferred to the survey manager upon completion
of fieldwork
• Area supervisors should retain the copies for use in
the event that the originals become lost or damaged