Consistency of Reporting of Fertility Intention in India: A Prospective and Retrospective Approach

Priyanka Dixit, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Laxmi Kant Dwivedi, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

The reliability of women’s response in providing accurate answers on sensitive topics of unintended pregnancy has important methodological, practical and substantive implications. Keeping this view in mind, the main focus of the present analysis is to check the consistency and accuracy of unwanted births in latest National Family Health Survey-(2005-06). After classifying indirectly the status of birth, the consistency has been checked between women’s responses on the two indicators. Kappa index has been applied to assess the agreement between two responses by selected background characteristics. This is the first attempt to assess the consistency of reporting of birth as unwanted in cross sectional data. The deference between two responses shows that by direct method women may rationalize. This study make a perfect platform for drawing the conclusion that estimates of unwanted childbearing obtained from retrospective assessments are likely to be underestimating significantly than actual levels of unwanted childbearing.