Age
5. How old is the [the respondent's] in completed years? [List the age at last birthday. If under 1 year enter 00]

Part A of the questionnaire

124. Columns A1-A6 collect the basic information about the persons in the household (name, relationship to head of household, sex, age, and citizenship). The sample questionnaire is shown on page 24.

129. Column A5: Age
Q. How old is the respondent 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 less than one year should be 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. 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 inside the back cover of the EA book. 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/her 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.