Methodological Innovation in Studying Abortion in Developing Countries: A ‘‘Narrative’’ Quantitative Survey in Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

This article describes the development and implementation of a mixed methods data collection method designed to provide high-quality data on the circumstances surrounding abortion in Madhya Pradesh, India. Data collection took place between 2000 and 2002, beginning with a qualitative phase and culminating in a large-scale, representative survey. The survey itself melded a unique narrative interviewing technique with quantitative survey techniques and collected information on 11,341 individual pregnancies from 2,444 women, with a 97% response rate. Abortion rates calculated using these data are found to be roughly five times higher than the National Family Health Survey-2, a comparable sample using more traditional interviewing techniques, suggesting that this approach reduces the underreporting of abortion while providing the contextual information often lacking in survey data.