PERL Data Resources

The Population and Ecology Research Laboratory (PERL) has collected a wide range of social science data regarding social change, social life, families, and the environment in Nepal. The measurements themselves included survey data collection, ethnographic data collection, mixed-method data collection, botanical counts, land use measures, and geographic information system data collection. All of these data are from Western Chitwan Valley. The study design involved the selection of 171 neighborhoods, with neighborhoods defined as clusters of 5 to 15 households. For more detailed information regarding the initial sample selection procedures please see "Barber, Shivakoti, Axinn, and Gajurel 1997". This paper describes the selection of an initial sample of 132 neighborhoods, which was followed by the selection of 39 additional neighborhoods in an oversample of rural areas. Much of the data from 1996 and earlier periods is based on this sample of 171 neighborhoods. Beginning in February of 1997 PERL launched various longitudinal data collection in 151 of the original 171 neighborhoods. Data collected between 1997 and 2002 reflect those 151 neighborhoods. For more detailed descriptions of the data, use links to the left. For a brief description, see text below.

In order to measure social change in and around those neighborhoods, PERL staff collected neighborhood level data using detailed Neighborhood History Calendars documenting changes over the period 1950-1995. The methods used for this data collection are described in detail in "Axinn, Barber Ghimire 1997". See "Neighborhood" data description for the data collection instruments and related materials.

PERL staff collected household interviews to document agricultural practices and interactions with the environment. Household interviews were collected in 1996 from all of the households in those 171 neighborhoods. The second round of household interviews were collected in 2001 from all the households in the sample of 151 neighborhoods and include households that were in the study in 1996, but had moved outside the study area by 2001. See "Household" data description for the questionnaires and codebooks for the resulting data.

In 1996 PERL staff also collected individual interview data from all of the adult residents of the sample. This interview also included the collection of life history measures using a Life History Calendar. These methods are described in detail in "Axinn, Pearce, Ghimire 1999". See "Individual" data description for the questionnaires and codebooks for the resulting data.

In February of 1997 PERL launched a monthly household registry of demographic events in the 151 neighborhood sample. This registry system and the measures it produces are described in the Household Registration Research Brief. See "Household" data description for the data collection instruments for this registry system. This registry data collection include all those residing in the 151 sampled neighborhoods in 1996, no matter where they move after 1996, and new residents of those 151 neighborhoods who arrived after 1996. This longitudinal study of demographic events is ongoing.

In 1996 and 2000 PERL staff collected detailed measures of land use in and around the 151 neighborhood sample. In 1996 PERL staff also collected a botanical inventory of plant species and counts of species abundance from common lands, forested plots and grasslands in and around the Western Chitwan study area. These measures were also repeated in 2000. See "Environmental" data description for the data collection instruments for these land use and flora measures. The locations of flora plots, neighborhoods, and other facilities were also geocoded.