Disability Cognitive Test: The Philippine Experience

1. Disability Cognitive Test:The Philippine Experience Question on Communication Presented by: Carmelita N. Ericta Administrator, PNSO 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13, 2006 Kampala, Uganda

2. Outline of the Presentation • Main Thrust of the Test • Respondents • Dates and Venues of the Test • Interview Approach • Test Results • Findings 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

3. Main thrust of the test • Identify problems in adopting the core questions for use in censuses and surveys • Provide comparative results in administering the core questions to respondents and their respective proxies 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

4. Respondents • 36 pairs of respondents (self-report and proxy) were selected: • 6 employees from PNSO-Central Office staff • 15 residents from a rural village in the province of Rizal (55 kms away from Manila) • 15 residents from an urban village in the City of Valenzuela (17 kms away from Manila) 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

5. Dates and Venues of Conduct of Test 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

6. Interview Approach • A partnership approach was adopted: one served as interviewer and another as observer. • A respondent for self-report was to be interviewed first followed by the interview for the proxy report. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

7. Test Results There were 31 matched self-report and proxy respondents. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

8. Test Results • Of the 31 self-report respondents, only 8 respondents (25.8 percent) experienced difficulty in communicating; • 17 proxies (54.8 percent) revealed that the majority of their counterparts have difficulty in communicating; and 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

9. Test Results • Most of the respondents and their proxies had no problem in answering the core question on communication. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

10. Test Results • Almost all of those who have difficulty in communicating (87.5 percent) claimed to have difficulty in understanding or being understood somewhat often. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

11. Test Results • Majority of respondents in self-report with difficulty in communicating (87.5 percent) admitted they exerted some effort in understanding or being understood. Several proxies observed their counterparts to exert some or a lot of effort on this activity 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

12. Test Results • Proxies were more concerned for their counterparts’ ability to understand or be understood. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

13. Test Results 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

14. Test Results • Most of the self-report respondents revealed that they have no difficulty in understanding what people say, and starting and maintaining a conversation. • Most of their proxies, however, have a different perception on this matter. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

15. Test Results 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

16. Test Results • Most self-report respondents (87.1 percent) disclosed that they have no difficulty in making new friends. Most proxies (93.6 percent) also observed that their counterparts have no difficulty in making new friends. • More than half (51.6 percent) of the self-report respondents disclosed that they felt shy in a group or social situations. But about 65 percent of the proxies claimed that their counterparts were not shy in group or social situations. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

17. Findings • The core question on communication is very long that some respondents were confused. • During interviews, self-report respondents tend to conceal their poor hearing abilities that affected their ability to communicate, understand or be understood. • The tests showed the necessity for additional information on the respondents. For instance, the respondents tend to relate some difficulties beyond the health condition of the household members. In this case, some of the reasons the respondents cited were lack of education, language barrier, and attitude and financial “problem” towards a particular activity . 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

18. Findings • Question on Communication: frequencies generally differ between the self-report respondents and their proxies on the following items: • degree of difficulty in communication • amount of effort exerted in understanding and being understood • degree of concern or worry in the ability to understand or be understood • Since the question on communication was placed at the end of the questionnaire, it may have suffered from inconsistencies of responses due to the length of the questionnaire and too many follow-up probes. 6th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics October 10 – 13 , 2006 Kampala, Uganda

19. PHILIPPINES NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE P.O. Box 779, Manila, Philippines http://www.census.gov.ph (Maraming Salamat Po.)