ST PETERS CHURCH OF UGANDA TO UNDERTAKE BASELINE SURVEY OF COMMUNITY CIRCUMSTANCES

The social and economic conditions of many of the members of the community served by St. Peter’s Church of Uganda Ssisa are bad. An exercise is soon to be launched to come up with statistics regarding these circumstances, so that the outcome is used in designing interventions to help in addressing the conditions on ground for the benefit of the community.
William Kituuka
DEFINING A BASELINE SURVEY

What is a baseline study?
A baseline study is a descriptive cross-sectional survey that mostly provides quantitative information on the current status of a particular situation - on whatever study topic - in a given population. It aims at quantifying the distribution of certain variables in a study population at one point in time. It involves the systematic collection and presentation of data to give a clear picture of a particular situation as it relates the following: What? Who? Where? When? Why? How? A baseline normally covers only a sample of the population. If a baseline study covers the entire population it is called a census.

A baseline study generates information on the levels of awareness, knowledge, attitude and practices (AKAP) of a given population on selected topics in a specific geographic area. The baseline study is repeated at the completion of the communication programme implementation to measure changes that have occurred over time in the characteristics that were studied before the beginning of the programme.

Rationale for baseline studies
There are many good reasons to conduct a baseline study in addition to a PRCA. While PRCA collects and presents qualitative information about the community, the baseline expresses its findings in a quantitative manner. Below are some of the reasons for conducting baseline studies:

Baseline studies quantify the results of PRCA and serve as means of triangulating or verifying the appraisal results in a statistical manner.

Results of baseline studies, because of their statistical nature, can often convince and provide justification to policy-makers for the necessity of mounting a communication programme for a specific problem or project.

Results of a baseline study, if shared with the community, might galvanise the people to action. If the findings are positive, the community can be shown that they are already doing a good job and should keep it up. When the results are negative, this could also serve as a catalyst for discussions with the community on the most appropriate means of action.

Baseline studies are used to shape the communication strategy by assisting to further segment the priority interaction groups, sharpening communication objectives, and focussing content of media materials.

Baseline study results show the spread and use of various media in the community. They also provide information on the media preferences of the different groups in the community, and hence guide the selection of most appropriate traditional and modern media to be used in a communication programme.

Baseline studies serve as a reference point or benchmark for later comparison or impact studies to assess how well the original communication objectives have been achieved.

If conducted properly, results of baseline surveys can be generalised and used for communities with similar characteristics.