Section: Home > Research Tools > Tools

Tools

The key research tools in PEN research are the PEN prototype questionnaire, the PEN Technical Guidelines, the list of codes, the PEN database for data entry, and various notes on data analysis and research methods to be developed as the project progresses.

Students and researchers not directly linked to PEN are welcome to use the questionnaire and guidelines in their own work and for non-commercial purposes. Due reference and acknowledgement should be made, using the following citations:

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). 2007. PEN Prototype Questionnaire, version 4. Available at: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/pen/_ref/tools/index.htm#proto

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). 2007. PEN Technical Guidelines, version 4. Available at: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/pen/_ref/tools/index.htm#guide 

A. PEN Prototype Questionnaire, version 4

The PEN prototype questionnaire forms the basis for data collection in the individual PEN studies. Researchers may, however, add modules to collect additional data for their particular research topic. The questionnaire is the result of a long consultative process among PEN resource persons and partners.

1. The PEN prototype questionnaire, version 4 (May 2007), can be downloaded here (Word format, zipped).

2. A French translation of the questionnaire, version 4 (August 2007) can be downloaded here (Word format, zipped).

3. A Spanish translation of the questionnaire, version 4 (July 2007) can be downloaded here (Word format, zipped).

4. A Brazilian Portuguese translation of the questionnaire (version 4) can be downloaded here, and for Mozambican Portuguese (version 2) can be downloaded here.

5. A Chinese translation of the questionnaire (version 3; V2 and A2 not yet translated) can be downloaded here (PDF format)

6. A Nepalese translation of the questionnaire (August 2007) can be downloaded here (PDF format)

Note:

The English version is the official one. Some significant changes and additions have been made in the third and fourth version of the questionnaire that are NOT reflected in the version 2 or 3 of the other translations, in particular some additions to A2 (from version 2 to 3) and the inclusion of the absentee and attrition (ATA) survey (from version 3 to 4). PEN partners using these translations MUST make these corrections. A record of changes made in the different (English) versions is found here (Word format).

B. PEN Technical Guidelines, version 4, including code list

The PEN Technical Guidelines accompanies the PEN questionnaire. The second version (March 2006) was thoroughly updated and expanded to include a detailed section by section guidelines to the questionnaire. The third and fourth version has a number of clarifications and additions, reflecting the experience gained from the PEN fieldwork.

The PEN guidelines, version 4 (May 2007) (Word format, zipped).

A Spanish translation of the guidelines (version 4) is available here.

PEN Code list, version 6.5 (August 2008) (Word format, zipped).

The guidelines will be updated regularly, and comments and suggestions for improvements are welcome. Send to the PEN coordinator: arild.angelsen@umb.no 

C. The PEN Access database

PEN has developed a set of MS Access databases for entering data collected using the PEN prototype questionnaire. Each of the seven different PEN surveys has got its own database.

To get started with these templates, please take a look at the User Guide, version 4 here (Word format, zipped). (Note that there are only minor changes from version 3 to 4 of the user guide.)

Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on using databases can be found here

Please read the instruction on "Migrating to newer versions of the database

Click here if you would like to see the changes made from version 3 to version 4 of the database:

D. PEN Data Cleaning

This section contains materials on PEN data cleaning. It will constantly be updated as new issues emerge through the cleaning process so be sure to visit it often.

• An detailed explanation of the data submission and cleaning process (PDF format)

• An explanation of how to read and respond to the data cleaning report (PDF format)

• Finally, we have included a small document with tips on how to minimize the volume of the bug report (PDF format)

Comments to and suggestions for changes in the databases or manual can be sent to: ronnie.babigumira@umb.no