The tensions between comparability and locally meaningful data

In the contemporary global context where the demand for data and the calculation of indicators mean that sources of such data themselves are a powerful basis for decision making on both local and global stages, the degree to which these data are comparable takes on great importance. This chapter unpicks a number of situations and types of data where such comparability can be challenged. These can be summarized as (i) the comparability of concepts and definitions—using the household and marriage as examples which are examined in detail; (ii) the comparability of comprehensibility and answerability of questions focusing on the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) ‘ideal family size’ and also behavioural methods of contraception; (iii) the comparability of cultural willingness to answer questions, which considers those who will and will not talk about the dead; and (iv) gendered differences in the interpretation of survey questions. The examples call into question the whole notion of comparability and what apparently comparable data sets might actually be examining. It concludes that much social behaviour is not inherently comparable cross-culturally and cross-linguistically and calls for much more care and sensitivity in analysing large data sets such as censuses and DHS surveys, especially when the analytical conclusions can have major implications for policy development and resource allocation.