Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data

When studying events such as the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, for many researchers the first order question seems to be to find the best available data and methods to estimate the death toll, i.e. to provide a number of deaths in absolute terms. This makes sense since the staggering number of victims ov...

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Main Author:	de Walque, Damien
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Taylor and Francis 2020
Subjects:	GENOCIDE MORTALITY SIBLING SURVIVAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33287

id	okr-10986-33287
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-332872021-05-25T10:54:40Z Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data de Walque, Damien GENOCIDE MORTALITY SIBLING SURVIVAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY When studying events such as the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, for many researchers the first order question seems to be to find the best available data and methods to estimate the death toll, i.e. to provide a number of deaths in absolute terms. This makes sense since the staggering number of victims over a very short period is one of the most shocking – and defining – features of such an historical event. This short note argues that while looking for an absolute death toll number is certainly an important and worthwhile research exercise, analyzing relative mortality numbers also provides valuable insights that might not be available when focusing on absolute numbers. By relative mortality I mean comparing mortality across different population segments such as by gender, by age group or socioeconomic categories (e.g. education levels, urban/rural background). Specifically, I will use the examples of the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia (1975-1978) and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda to illustrate this argument and will rely on earlier studies to show how the sibling mortality schedule – a module collecting information about the date of birth, the sex and if relevant the date of death of all siblings of the respondent – contained in most of the well-known and commonly used Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) can be exploited to obtain reasonable and useful estimates of relative mortality. 2020-02-05T19:22:51Z 2020-02-05T19:22:51Z 2019-12-31 Journal Article Journal of Genocide Research 1462-3528 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33287 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Journal Article Cambodia Rwanda
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	GENOCIDE MORTALITY SIBLING SURVIVAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY
spellingShingle	GENOCIDE MORTALITY SIBLING SURVIVAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY de Walque, Damien Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
geographic_facet	Cambodia Rwanda
description	When studying events such as the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, for many researchers the first order question seems to be to find the best available data and methods to estimate the death toll, i.e. to provide a number of deaths in absolute terms. This makes sense since the staggering number of victims over a very short period is one of the most shocking – and defining – features of such an historical event. This short note argues that while looking for an absolute death toll number is certainly an important and worthwhile research exercise, analyzing relative mortality numbers also provides valuable insights that might not be available when focusing on absolute numbers. By relative mortality I mean comparing mortality across different population segments such as by gender, by age group or socioeconomic categories (e.g. education levels, urban/rural background). Specifically, I will use the examples of the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia (1975-1978) and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda to illustrate this argument and will rely on earlier studies to show how the sibling mortality schedule – a module collecting information about the date of birth, the sex and if relevant the date of death of all siblings of the respondent – contained in most of the well-known and commonly used Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) can be exploited to obtain reasonable and useful estimates of relative mortality.
format	Journal Article
author	de Walque, Damien
author_facet	de Walque, Damien
author_sort	de Walque, Damien
title	Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
title_short	Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
title_full	Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
title_fullStr	Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
title_full_unstemmed	Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
title_sort	relative measures of genocide mortality : benefits and methodological considerations of using siblings' survival data
publisher	Taylor and Francis
publishDate	2020
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33287
_version_	1764478399755059200

Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality : Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data

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