A tip for development economics fieldworks

The number of blogs written by development economists appears to be on the rise. One of such blogs, the one by Chris Blattman, offers a tip for fieldwork:

[When] running surveys ... [i]n western Kenya, parents were reluctant to name their exact number of children lest it be seen as boastful, provoking God to take one of them away. ... [W]e learned with time to ask about an eldest child, counting down child-by-child without ever mentioning the total number.

By the way, I don't try to make this blog as another development economics blog. I prefer a more personal blog, juxtaposing various topics that interest the blogger. But from time to time, things on development economics will show up in this blog as I'm interested in them.