Using DHS Data (cont.)

Weights

Section 4 discussed sampling strategy for DHS and the fact that weights may need to be applied to the data to account for under or over-sampling. Another reason for applying weights to the data is to account for differences in response rates by region. These weighs act to restore the representativeness of the data.

In practice:

• You must use the weight applicable to the unit of analysis (e.g. use the household weight hv005 if analysing households). The table to the right gives some of the commonly used weight variables by unit of analysis.
• You must divide the weight given in the dataset by 1,000,000 (as all DHS weights give 8 digits, with an implicit 6 decimals, i.e. the decimal point is not included).
• The process for generation and application of weights will depend on the analysis programme you are using.

If you do not apply weights to the data, the results will not be nationally representative.