COVID-19 High Frequency Phone Survey of Households 2020-2022, CSES (Cambodia)

Abstract

To monitor the socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and inform policy responses and interventions, the COVID-19 High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) of households was designed aspart of a World Bank global initiative. For Cambodia, a total of 5 survey rounds are planned, with households being called back every 1 to 2 months. This allows for the impact of the pandemic to be tracked as it unfolds and provides data to the government and development partners in near real-time, supporting an evidence-based response to thecrisis. Two additional rounds are conducted in 2022. Due to the higher attrition rate of LSMS+, the World Bank teamdecided to use the same sample of households that had been interviewed for the 2019/2020 Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) implemented from July 2019 to June 2020 by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). The CSES is representative at national and urban/rural level.

The extensive information collected in CSES 2019/20 providesa rich set of background information on which the COVID-19 High-Frequency Phone Survey of households can beleveraged to assess the differential impacts of the pandemic in the country. Data collection of the Cambodia COVID-19 HFPS based on CSES sample started in February 2022. The HFPS interviewed 1698 households from the 2019/20 CSES with a phone number. Sampling weights were adjusted to make sure that the surveyed sample remains representative at national and urban/rural.

The questionnaire covers a series of topics, such as access to food, foodinsecurity, impact of the Covid-19 on income sources and coping mechanisms, access to social assistance, and impactof Covid-19 on economic activity. The questionnaire is designed to be administered between 20 to 25 minutes. Thesurvey is implemented using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing.