In May 2020, two months after the first cases of COVID-19 officially emerged in Haiti, Safitek Research conducted a survey to assess the attitudes, perceptions, and level of understanding of the Haitian population vis-à-vis this pandemic.
Vaccine acceptance
Haiti ranks last in vaccine acceptance rate among selected countries in the region
2020
2021
Up until recently, it would have been unfathomable to conduct a rigorous survey in Haiti via telephone. The rapid adoption of mobile phone across the country has made telephone surveys not only possible but perhaps the preferred way to conduct cost effective and rigorous surveys. In the context of the Coronavirus outbreak, a phone survey is also the safest way to reach respondents. We are also finding increasing evidence that respondents are more candid in telephone interviews than they are in person.Based on the available data and research we previously conducted, we know that mobile phone penetration in the country is estimated at 58%1. We also know that this penetration rate is uneven across the country with rural areas lagging far behind urban areas, and with poorer segments of the population lagging far behind their more affluent counterparts.
The challenge in conducting a mobile phone survey in such an environment is to ensure accurate representation of the entire population rather than that of mobile phone owners. In conducting our surveys, we collected geographic, socio-economic, and demographic information about our respondents. This information was fed in real time into our proprietary algorithm guiding the selection of respondents so that our sample could reflect the geographic, demographic, and socio-economic profile of the actual population.
1. Statista. (2019). Number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in Haiti from 2000 to 2018. Tiré de: https://www.statista.com/statistics/502111/mobile-cellular-subscriptions-per-100-inhabitants-in-haiti/.
