Participatory Observation in the Conteo de Población y Vivienda, 1995. An Anthropological Experience

Abstract

The experience of an anthropologist who participated as enumerator in the Conteo de Población y Vivienda 1995 is analyzed in this paper. The author describes briefly the methodology established by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (inegi) for each stage of the enumeration; she sistematically points the circumstances and reasons that determine why the different groups involved in the process do not follow the rules. She points the questions that the informers usually avoid answering, or the ones they answer hardly and imprecisely.

When analyzing the acts and attitudes of the enumerators, the author explains that they follow some "informal rules", and that they have a very clear idea of the effort, quantity and quality of the job since the very beginning of the whole process. Insofar the informers, she distinguishes among them those who do not understand very well the questions, those who understand but simply do not want to answer, or those whose answers are deliberately incorrect.

Finally, based on her experience, she concludes that the coverage and quality of the information obtained during the Conteo depend on different apects that escape from inegi 's control, such as the condition and disposition of the informers, as well as the "informal rules" established by the operative group.