A5. How old is [the person] in complete years? _ _

Q: How old of [the person] in completed years?

This is one of the most important questions in the questionnaire. It is also one that is often difficult to answer correctly. You should take particular care with it. You should record the age of a person in completed years, i.e. as of last birthday.

For example, a person aged twenty-six years and four months should be recorded as "26". Similarly, a person aged twenty-six years and 10 months should be recorded as "26". A child aged under one year should recorded as "00". For persons aged 98 years and over, enter 98. A person aged 98 will therefore be coded 98 and so will a person aged 99 or 104. The code 99 is for "age not known" and is to be used only when you cannot possibly estimate a person's age, even using the techniques described below. However failure to estimate age must be avoided at all cost.

Some people may not know their ages. When this happens, ask first for the year in which the person was born, then look up the age in the age calendar provided. If the year of birth is not known you should try to find out the age by using the Botswana events calendar. Ask how old the person was at the time of some known event. Check the answer by relating it to some other event the person can remember well. The events listed in the Botswana events calendar are arranged both by district and alphabetically, and corresponding to each event you will find listed the year in which the event occurred and the number of years ago the event occurred. From this information you can calculate the person's age.

If you already know the age of another person in the household, you may find it helpful to ask if the person is older or younger and by how many years. If there is no other way, you may have to estimate the person's age by looking at him (if present). Other documents such as birth certificates, clinic cards, passports, or omang cards could help you in accurately establishing ages. Suggest to the respondent(s) that they might refer to such documents. They might even show you these documents, but do not demand to see them.

When you have made the best estimate you can, you should check whether it is compatible with the person's position in the family/household (for example, a child should be at least 12 years younger than his natural mother; of course, if the mother isn't the natural mother, then the age difference will be irrelevant). Some people have fixed ideas about their ages which are mistaken. Do not accept answers that are obviously wrong, but do it tactfully and diplomatically. Try and get accurate answers.

Example: In the sample questionnaire shown on page 19, the first person to be listed is Maungo Nyeps, as the head of household, so she is listed first. Her eldest son, Mothusi, is listed next, followed by three of her grandchildren, Itumeleng, Balisa and Mbigi. The last person to come on the list is Mmantsheledi who is an adopted girl by the family. Note that the head of the household (Maungo) is assigned serial number 01 in addition to being listed first. The rest of the household members follow in order of their seniority and membership status in the household.

According to the relationship column in A3, Maungo Nyeps as the head of household, is coded 00. Mothusi who is the son to the head is coded 02 to show this relation. The heads three grandchildren, Itumeleng, Balisa and Mbigi, are all coded 04; Mmantsheledi's relationship to the head is best suitable for in the category 09 for "other relatives". Column A4 Maungo is coded 2 to show that she is female, and code 1 and 2 have been used interchangeably for other members of the household depending on their sex.

Still in the sample questionnaire above, Maungo is 52 years, Mothusi 23, Itumeleng 8, Balisa 8, Mbigi 5 and Mmantsheledi is 19, as such they have been coded 52, 23, 08,0 8,0 5 and 19 respectively.

In the sample questionnaire below, all the persons listed are citizens of Botswana (code 01), except for Mmantsheledi, who is a citizen of Namibia. As such Namibia is written in the unshaded area and the code for Namibia, 06, is written in the shaded area.