4. Relationship ____

The head of a household is generally the person who is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the household. He or she is not necessarily the oldest person in the household. However, your main guide as to who is the head is whoever will be pointed out to you as the head when you ask.

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If the head of the household was away on census night, you should ask for the person who took charge of the household when the usual head was away. This person thus becomes the "temporary head of household" and all other relationships should refer to this person and not to the usual head who was absent.

Enter the name of this person on the first line of List A and write in the relationship column temporary head and relate all other relationships to this person. For instance, if a usual head of household was away and the wife becomes the temporary head, all the relationships should refer to this wife. Thus the head (who will be recorded on the first line in List C) becomes the "husband" and his sister's son becomes "husband's sister's son" and not "sisters' Son".

10b. How to fill out the "relationship to head of household" column

What we want in the relationship column is the relationship of every member of the household, including guests and visitors to the head or temporary head of household. Most relationships are established either by blood (descent) or by marriage (affinal). This means that your brother and sister's son are your blood relatives whilst your wife, wife's mother or wife's sister are your relatives by marriage.

The relationship should always be written as if it were defined by the head himself. For example, if the head replies in the following manner:

On the other hand, if you ask a member of the household about his or her relationship to the head of the household you have to invert the relationship before you enter it. If, for example, a person tells you that:

Always remember to avoid such vague terms as nephew, cousin, uncle, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, etc. which do not denote exact relationships. Nephew may mean brother's son or sister's son and these should, therefore, be distinguished.

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Make sure that the blood relationships specified are true biological relationships. A son must mean the head's own true son and not his brother's, etc. However, half-brothers, i.e. persons having one mother but different fathers, or one father but different mothers should be recorded as brothers. Similarly half-sisters should be recorded as sisters.

Any other relationships should be fully specified, e.g. adopted son, adopted daughter, etc. Other household members who are not related to the head of the household such as lodgers and unrelated servants should be recorded as such, e.g. servant, guest, friend, etc.

As a guide to the, type of relationships to be specified a list has been compiled for you at the bottom of the front page of the household questionnaire (Form H).

Note that the relationship column should be left blank for all persons in institutions and the floating population.