Questionnaire Design

Once the decision is made to carry out a CRC survey and the lead institution also identified, it is important to understand what aspects of the two services are to be in the survey. The issues to be decided upon are as follows:

1. Would you like to cover one of the two services or both, i.e., Drinking Water and Sanitation?

2. What aspects of service delivery would you like to cover? Basically the sections covered in a CRC questionnaire are as follows:

a. Availability and Accessibility

b. Usage Pattern

c. Expenditure/Payment Pattern

d. Problem Incidence and Resolution

e. Corruption

f. Satisfaction

3. Who is your target group within the population/community of interest (e.g., women vs. men; weaker vs. better sections of society; poor vs. non-poor; illiterate vs. literate, etc.)?

4. In which areas or localities would you like to conduct the CRC (e.g., slum vs. non-slum areas)?

To answer these questions, holding FGDs with citizens from various populations of interest and from different localities/areas is an effective way to finalize the service(s) and service delivery aspects to be covered.

Another important source of information are the service providers themselves! Involving them in the process will increase buy-in, as well as, greater possibilities for collaborative reform measures later.

The feedbacks from these FGDs and meetings need to be incorporated into the questionnaire, followed by translation and a pilot to understand its applicability in the field (for details go to Module 5 in the website www.citizenreportcard.com).