Republic of Kenya
Population Census
1979
[Page 15 containing the introduction and enumerator etiquette is omitted here.]
pg 15
13. You will be allocated an enumeration area and you will be responsible for visiting every household in it and for recording the particulars of all persons.
14. Miss no household in your area nor count any twice.
15. The boundaries of your enumeration area (or EA) will be explained to you by your supervisor. Make sure you understand exactly what they are before you start work.
pg 16
16. Get to know your area as thoroughly as possible before you start work. Spend as much time as you can going round it, finding out where the houses or huts are and introducing yourself to the people so that when you begin the enumeration they will know you and be expecting you.
17. Plan your work so that you visit each inhabited place and each household in turn. Work in an orderly way and you will save yourself much walking and a great deal of trouble. Tell your supervisor where you will start and which paths you will follow so that he can find you.
The household
18. A household is a group of persons who normally live and eat together, whether or not they are related by blood or marriage.
19. The household is the most convenient small group of persons for the purposes of the Census and you will enumerate the population by household.
20. If two or more groups of persons live in the same dwelling and have separate living and eating arrangements, treat them as separate households.
21. A domestic servant who eats with the household should be included with the household. If the servant cooks and eats separately he/she should be enumerated as living in a separate household.
22. In the same way, a visitor and any of his/her children who eat with the household are counted as members of the household.
23. A household may consist of one or more persons and may occupy a whole building, part of a building or many buildings.
24. There are cases where the rules used to decide what a household is do not apply, and here are some further guides to help you:
b. Those working in institutions or hotels but who live in their own households should be enumerated with their own household and not with the institution. Thus a nurse on night duty should be enumerated with her household and not with patients at the hospital. Similarly, a teacher should be enumerated with his/her household and not with students or boarders at the school or training institution. The same applies to night workers of all kinds.
c. Hotels will be supplied with a stock of questionnaires and envelopes. On the evening of Census Night, managers will give each guest a questionnaire and an envelope. All persons staying in the hotel on Census Night will be required to complete a questionnaire, seal it in an envelope and hand it to reception next morning. The envelope with completed questionnaires will be collected from the Manager. Enumeration of persons in hotels is the responsibility of the supervisor, but he may instruct you to do the work.
d. It is the custom in many parts of Kenya for boys to live in separate quarters between circumcision and marriage, while continuing to take their meals with their parents. Such boys do not fall precisely within the definition of a household for they normally eat but do not sleep in their parents' household. Enumerate such groups as though they are in a school or institution. If only one or two boys are concerned you may find it more convenient to enumerate them with their parents' household and there is no objection to this as long as everyone is included in the Census once and once only.
e. District Census Officers will make arrangements for enumerating persons in hospitals, in the armed forces, the G.S.U. and prisons. They will also arrange to enumerate persons who sleep out of doors in urban areas. You may be instructed to help with these special cases.
25. You must interview as many persons as may be necessary to enable you to obtain the particulars required of all persons who were in the household on Census Night. It is not likely that you will see all members of the household, nor is it absolutely necessary that you should. It will be best if the head of the household is present, but it will be enough if there is one responsible adult who can give the information required.
26. You will start work early in the morning after Census Night and will continue for as long as it takes to enumerate everyone who was in your area on Census Night. The best times for visiting households are early in the morning before people go to work, and in the evenings. People will often stay to meet you if you send word that you are coming. You are allowed to work in the evenings until about 10 o'clock p.m. but you are not allowed to enumerate throughout the night.
27. It is unlikely that you will enumerate everyone in one day. In most cases it is expected that the enumeration will take between three and five days. If, for any reason, you think it will take longer, you should tell your supervisor in good time and he may be able to send someone to help you. If you become ill or injure yourself so that you cannot continue, you must let him know at once.
Who should you enumerate?
28. You should enumerate all persons who were in the household at midnight on Census Night.
29. Sometimes there are persons who would normally have slept with the household on Census Night, but who were temporarily absent and were somewhere else in Kenya where they could not have been enumerated.
pg 17
Examples are watchmen, nurses, police officers, and shift workers on night duty; night fishermen; and persons attending hospital out-patients department through the night. Such persons are to be enumerated with the household.
30. Persons staying in hotels, hospital in-patients, persons in observation wards, prisoners, and the like will be enumerated in their institutions. They should not be included with the household.
What happens if there is no one at home?
31. It may happen that when you visit a house that is inhabited you are unable to obtain any information, either because there is no one at home, or because all the adults are away at the time, or for some other reason.
32. If there are people present, enquire as to the best time to call back. If there is no one at home, ask the neighbors if anyone was there on Census Night. If there was, ask when members of the household are likely to be at home and arrange your next visit accordingly.
33. If you are working in an urban area, complete a Call Back Card stating the day and time of your next visit and leave it at the house so that the people may know when you will be returning. If you are in a rural area, leave word about the time of your next visit.
34. If after three visits you have not succeeded in finding anyone at home, make a note of the address and tell your Supervisor when you see him.
35. It may be that for some reason your call is at an inconvenient time for members of the household. Do not lightly allow yourself to be put off, but if there is some weighty reason - such as a death in the house - arrange to return at a more suitable time.
36. Call backs will involve you in much extra work. Be wise -- send word ahead of you so that people know when to expect you. If you have to make call backs, clear them early. If you make an appointment to return, keep it punctually.
37. You will be given a supply of chalk. It is to be used to mark those houses you have visited and whose occupants you have enumerated.
38. The purpose of this is to ensure that no household is enumerated twice and that none is missed. It will also serve to give each household a temporary address for census purposes. This makes checking easier and will readily identify the household.
39. When you have enumerated the members of the household write the household number in some conspicuous place. The household number is one you will allocate yourself. The first household you enumerate will be 1, the second will be 2 and so on upwards. Write the number neatly where it will be easily visible to your supervisor and out of reach of small children. Ask the people to leave it up until the end of September, so that they may be spared the inconvenience of unnecessary visits by census staff. Explain that the numbers are used for census purposes only and may be rubbed off after a month.
40. If there is more than one household in a building, write the number at the entrance to the household's living quarters.
41. If the household occupies more than one building or structure, write the number on the most obvious of them.
42. Do not mark a dwelling until you have enumerated the members of the household.
43. There is sometimes confusion over EA boundaries and you may find that an enumerator from neighboring EA has been enumerating people in your area and numbering their dwellings. If this happens, make sure first of all that you are within your area as you understand the boundaries. If you have crossed your boundary by mistake, return to your area and go on with your work. If you are satisfied that you are right and that the households are in fact in your area, make a note of the households concerned and report the matter to your supervisor. Don't stop work. Don't enumerate the people a second time. Continue enumerating other households in your area.
44. All the information required at the Census is to be recorded on the questionnaire which will be issued to you bound in books of fifty forms. None are to be taken out or destroyed. You will have to account for all of them.
45. The information recorded on the questionnaires is to be summarized on the front cover of the book.
46. Detailed instructions for completing the questionnaire and the summary are given in part 3 of these instructions.
47. Before leaving the household, look at the questionnaire you have completed for it and make sure that you have done so accurately and fully. It is better to check your work on the spot than that you should have to go back, or be sent back to correct mistakes.
48. In particular you should check that:
Others can read what you have written.
All the columns are filled in where they should be.
The answers are correct.
Part 3: How to fill in the questionnaire
49. Complete the questionnaire yourself.
pg 18
Keep it clean.
Write legibly, preferably in capitals.
Start each household on a separate page.
Use one line per person.
50. The questionnaire is divided into three sections:
The second, columns (a) to (1), contains questions which apply to all persons. You are required to ask the questions of all persons and to make written entries for all persons.
The third, columns (m) to (u), contains questions which apply to all females aged 12 years and over. You are required to ask the questions of all females aged 12 years and over and to make written entries for each. This section must be completed for all women and girls aged 12 and over. If the person is male or a girl aged 11 years or less, write 'n/a' in column (m) and leave the rest blank.
51. If the information is given to you by someone other than the person concerned and some details are not known, you may write 'NK' in the appropriate box.
Make every effort obtain full and correct answers and to avoid the use of 'NK'
52. If you make a mistake, cross it out neatly with a single line and correct it. If there is no room to make a correction, draw a line through the whole of the record for that person, write along it 'mistake' and complete a new line for the person.
53. If, for some reason, you make a mistake involving a whole household, draw a diagonal line across the questionnaire, write along it 'spoilt' and complete a new questionnaire for the household. On no account tear a spoilt questionnaire out of the book.
54. If there are more than fourteen people in the household, continue on the next page. Write 'continued' at the foot of the first page and at the top of the second. Continue to number the persons serially, so that the first person on the second page will usually be number 15. Use as many pages as may be necessary for the household.
The interview and the questions
55. When you arrive at a house, greet the occupants and identify yourself as a census enumerator.
56. Ask for the head of the household. The head of the household is the person who is regarded by the members of the household as its head, and may be a man or a woman. If the head of the household is not present, ask for the next senior person.
57. If you are enumerating people in an institution which has no head, because its members are patients or prisoners or whatever the case may be, you will ask for information from the person in charge of the institution.
58. Explain that you must record particulars of everyone who was present in the household at midnight on Census Night.
59. Next, complete the information required in the box at the top left hand corner of the questionnaire. Record the names of the province, district, division, location and sub-location in the spaces provided. Enter the EA number. If you are enumerating persons in an institution such as a hospital, barracks, or prison, write the name beside the box. Enter the household number. This number you will allocate yourself. The first household you enumerate will be 1, the second 2, and so on upwards. If there is more than one enumerator working in an EA, the first will number his households A1, A2, etc.; the second will number his, B1, B2, and so on.
60. Then complete the main body of the questionnaire and record the details required of all persons and of women and girls aged twelve years and over.
61. The instructions which follow deal with the particulars required and will help to explain the brief instructions printed at the head of each column. Study them together.
62. It is important that everyone puts the questions in the same way. You must learn the form in which the questions are to be put and the order in which they are to be put.
63. It is also important that, as far as possible, you obtain the information directly from the person concerned.
64. Your first job is to make a list of all persons who were in the household on Census Night, starting with the head of the household, if he or she was present, or of the persons in charge of the household at that time. People may not know which was Census Night, in which case you should explain by saying 'That was last night', or 'That was two nights ago', or as the case may be.
Columns (a) to (c): Name, relationship, and sex
65. Ask, 'who was here on Census Night?'
66. It is important that you list names in a set order so that you have a clear picture of the household from the very beginning.
67. List members of the household by family, starting with the head and his wife and children, beginning with the eldest and working down to the youngest. If the head has more than one wife, list the second wife and her children next, and so on. Then in order list relatives and their husbands, wives and children. Finally, list those who are not related to the head or to anyone else in the household such as visitors and servants.
68. Very young children are sometimes forgotten or even deliberately left out as being unimportant. All persons must be enumerated. Pay particular attention to getting all babies counted. If the infant has no name, write 'baby of [mother's name]'.
pg 19
69. Remember to ask about, and to include, night workers and persons in transit from one place to another within Kenya by road, rail or air. Exclude hospital in-patients, persons staying in hotels, prisoners and the like.
70. Write the names in column (a). Some people have many names and it is not necessary to write them all as long as you record the name or names by which the person is usually known.
71. When you have written down all the names, read over the list and ask:
If not, correct the list.
Then ask,
'Was there anyone else here on Census Night'
If so, include them.
72. At the same time as you write the names in column (a), write relationship in column (b) and the person's sex in column (c). You will save yourself trouble by doing so.
73. Write 'head' against the name of the head of the household, if he or she was present on Census Night. If the usual head of the household was neither present nor on night duty, write 'head' against the name of the person who was in charge of the household on Census Night. Then write the relationship of each person to the head or to his or her parents if they were present, or show the relationship husband/wife.
74. Sometimes a person is related to more than one person in the household. In such cases concentrate first on relating parents and their own children, then on relating husbands and wives, and then on relating persons to the head of the household or other members of it.
75. Since every person will be entered against the line number in column (b) his or her relationship may easily be written as 'wife of 1 ', '2nd wife of 3', 'daughter of 1 and 2', ' son of 4', 'servant of 1', and so on.
76. Relationships must be described accurately. Be careful to distinguish between children born of the parents and adopted or step children.
77. Where a man and woman live together although not married, treat them as man and wife if they so regard themselves. The census is not concerned with the form of marriage.
78. The following relationships will cover all cases with which the census is concerned: head, wife, husband, son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, adopted son, grandson, granddaughter, grandfather, grandmother, adopted daughter.
79. For all other relationships, write 'other relative'. For members of the household who are not related to the head and do not have parents present, write 'servant', 'visitor', or as is appropriate. If such people have their own children present, you will, of course, relate the children to their parents.
80. Where several persons with no family relationship share the responsibility of running the household name one as head and describe the rest as 'partners'.
81. In an institution such as a hospital, or boarding school or prison where there is no head of household, describe the persons as 'patient', 'student', 'prisoner', or as the case may be.
82. Make sure you understand the relationship before you make an entry.
83. Record the person's sex by writing 'M' for males and 'F' for females. Check that the sex is compatible with relationship - don't write 'M' for persons shown as wives or daughters, nor 'F' for persons shown as sons or husbands.
84. Take particular care to record the sex of very young children correctly. Often you will not know whether a baby carried on its mother's back is a boy or a girl, in such cases you must ask -- don't guess.
Column (d): Age
85. 'How old is this person?'
86. Write the person's age in completed years -- that is, the person's age at his or her last birthday. For babies under one year of age, write the age in months, for example '7 months' or '7/12'.
87. Be careful not to round ages up to the next birthday. A child who is aged four years and eleven months should, for example, be entered as '4' and not '5'.
88. Many people do not know their ages. If a person's age is not known you must make the best estimate possible. Avoid the use of 'NK' in this column.
89. There are various ways in which you can estimate a person's age. Sometimes people have documents, such as baptismal certificates, which show the year of birth, in which case it is easy to calculate age.
pg 20
90. Generally it is not so easy. Concentrate first on establishing the ages of one or two people in the household. One reliable age may help in working out the ages of others if it is known whether they are older or younger and by how many years.
91. It is sometimes possible to estimate a person's age by relating his or her birth to some notable event. With these instructions is a calendar of events which lists the dates of events in the history of each district. If the person can remember how old he or she was at the time, you can work out the person's age.
92. Some tribes have systems of 'age grades' or 'age sets' from which a person's age can be worked out. A person's age grade may only give a rough idea of his or her age since the same grade may have in it people of widely different ages, but it is better than nothing. Some tribes have age grades for men but not for women, but you can often obtain an idea of a woman's age by asking which age grade of men she associated with, or which her brothers belonged to and whether they are older/younger. Some age grades are listed in the Event Calendars, you can enquire about others from chiefs and elders.
93. If all else fails, you will have to make the best estimate you can, judging by such things as the person's appearance and position in the household and using your common sense knowledge that parents are seldom younger than 15 or 16 years of age when their first child is born, that women do not normally bear children below the age of twelve or over the age of fifty and so on.
94. When you have arrived at the best estimate you can make of a person's age, check that it is compatible with his or her relationship to others in the household. Obviously children cannot be older than their parents; women seldom marry before they are 12 and men before they are 18 and so on. Check these points. If necessary adjust your estimates of age.
95. Any estimate of age, however rough, is better than 'NK' in this column. Do the best you can to report ages accurately.
Column (e): Tribe or nationality
96. 'Is this person a Kenyan?'
'What is this person's tribe?'
If the answer is 'no' and the person is not Kenyan, ask
'What is this person's nationality?'
97. For Kenyan Africans write the name of the person's tribe. Accept the answer as is given you, without question. For other Kenyans write 'Arab', 'Asian', 'European', or as the case may be
98. For non-Kenyan write the person's nationality. For example, 'Tanzania', 'Ugandan', 'British', or as the case may be.
99. Do not become involved in argument on this point. The census is not concerned with the legal position. Accept what the person tells you and record the tribe or nationality to which the person considers he or she belongs.
100. Record the children of mixed marriages - that is of marriages between persons of different tribes, races or nationalities - as being of the father's tribe or nationality. For the purposes of the census, in other words, children take tribe or nationality from their father.
Column (f): Birthplace
101. 'Where was this person born?'
102. For persons born in Kenya, write the name of the district where they were born. Do not write the name of the location or town.
103. Relate the person's birthplace to the present districts as far as possible. District boundaries have been changed over the years and we want to relate a person's place of birth to the district as they are now.
104. If the district of birth, or the district where the person was living in August 1978, is not known, write the province.
105. For persons born outside Kenya, write the country of birth. For example, 'Tanzania', 'Uganda', 'Somalia', 'Ethiopia', 'Holland', 'UK', or as the case may be.
Column (g): Previous residence
106. 'Where was this person living in August 1978?'
107. For persons who were living in Kenya, write the name of the district.
For persons who were living outside Kenya, write the name of the country.
108. If the person is under one year of age, write 'N/A' in this column.
109. A person who may have been absent from home temporarily for some reason such as visiting relatives or being in hospital, or who may have been overseas on a visit of less than six months, should be shown where they normally lived in August 1978.
110. It is necessary to make separate enquiry for each member of the household because a man does not always take his wife and children with him when he goes away to work, or he may only have some of his family with him and others may have been elsewhere at the time.
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Column (h) and (i): Education
111. 'Has this person ever been to school?'
112. State, in column (h), whether the person is attending school this year -- write 'at'; or whether the person has been to school and has left school -- write 'left' ; or whether the person has never been to school -- write 'never'.
113. If the person has been to school or is at school, ask,
'What was or is the highest class or form he or she has reached?'
114. Enter, in column (h), the highest class or form the person has reached in the formal primary and secondary school system.
115. You may shorten 'standard' and 'form' by writing 'St, 4', 'F3', or as the case may be. If the person has attended University, or is doing so, write 'univ'. The census is not concerned with other post-secondary or vocational training, nor is it concerned with educational qualifications.
Column (j): Is father alive?
Column (k): Is mother alive?
116. 'Is this person's father/mother alive?'
117. Write 'yes or 'no' in respect of the person's real, natural or biological father and mother, Foster parents or other relatives who may have adopted the person should not be considered as the father or mother in these columns.
Column (l): Marital status
118. 'Is this person single, married, widowed, divorced, or separated?'
119. Persons who have never been married and children under 12 years of age should be shown as 'single'.
120. People living together as man and wife, and who so regard themselves should be shown as 'married' whether or not they have been through any civil, religious or customary ceremonies. The census is not trying to find out who is legally married and who is not. Accept the answer as it is given you.
121. If a person is widowed at the time of the census, he or she should be shown as 'widowed'. If a person has been widowed but has since re-married and is now married, he or she should be shown as 'married'.
122. If people think of themselves as divorced or separated, show them as such. It does not matter whether they have been to court or gone through other formalities. Accept the answer as it is given you.
123. Accept what people say about their marital status. Do not embarrass yourself or the person by enquiring into the nature of marriage and divorce.
The questions in columns (m) to (u) apply to all women and girls aged twelve years and over.
124. Answers are required for all women in this category. It does not matter whether or not they are married, single, divorced or separated; whether or not they are still attending school; whether or not you think they have or have not borne children; or what their relationship to the head of the household -- you must ask the questions of all women and girls aged twelve and over.
125. For males and for girls under twelve years of age, write 'n/a' in column (m) and leave the rest blank.
126. Many women do not like answering questions about their children. There are various reasons for this, but it is your job to obtain the answers. It will require firmness and tact.
127. Ask of all females aged 12 years and over,
"Has this woman borne any children?'
128. If the woman has never borne any children alive, write '0' in each of columns (m) to (r).
129. A child born alive is one who cries after being born. The census is concerned only with born children alive. Do not include still-births -- that is, children who were born dead and did not cry.
130. If the woman has borne children alive, ask,
'Of the children she has borne alive, how many are living in this household?'
131. Write the number of boys who are living in the household in column (m) and the number of girls in column (n). If none of the boys or girls she has borne is living in the household, write '0' in the appropriate column.
132. Check that the number agrees with the number of children you have shown as her children in the relationship column (b). If the numbers differ, enquire as to the reason and correct the answers as may be necessary.
133. Next, ask
'Of the children she has borne alive, how many are living elsewhere?'
134. Write the number of boys who are living elsewhere in column (o) and the number of girls in column (p). If none of the boys or girls she has borne is living elsewhere, write '0' in the appropriate column.
135. Include in these columns all the children she has borne who are living somewhere else. It may be that they have grown up and married,
pg 22
or have gone off to work, or be living with relatives, or be in a boarding school, etc. Make sure that none of the children she has borne are missed and ask further questions to probe the matter fully -- 'are any of your children away?', 'at work?', 'married?', 'with relatives?'
136. Then ask,
'Of the children she has borne alive, how many have died?'
137. Many people do not talk of the dead and many others find it painful to talk about their dead children. It is best to ask this question in a matter of fact way and without embarrassment.
138. Write the number of boys who have died in column (q) and the number of girls in column (r). If none of the boys and girls she has borne has died, write '0' in the appropriate column.
139. If, in spite of your best efforts, you cannot obtain this information about the children who have died, write 'refuses' in columns (q) and (r). Do not leave these, or any other columns, blank.
140. You have recorded in columns (m) to (r) details of all the children the woman has borne alive. You are next required to record particulars of her most recent birth, that is the particulars relating to the birth of her last borne child.
141. Ask,
'In what year was her last child borne?'
142. Record the year of birth in column (s). For the years 1960 to 1979 state the year, but if the child was borne before 1960 and the exact year is not known you may write '1959'.
143. If the child was born in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 or 1979, ask,
'In what month of the year was it borne?'
144. Record the month in column (t). If the child was born in 1974 or before you need not record the month of birth.
145. Then ask,
'Was it a boy or a girl?'
146. Record the sex of the last borne child in column (u). Write 'M' for males and 'F' for females. If they were male twins, write '2M'; if female twins, write '2F'; if twins with one of each sex, write 'MF' and so on.
147. If the last borne child is alive and is living with the mother in the household, check that the year of birth agrees with the age of the child which you have recorded in column (d). If the dates do not agree, find out what has gone wrong and make any correction that is necessary.
[Bottom of page 22 and page 23 covering administrative instructions to the enumerator are omitted here.]