Questionnaire Text

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D. - Fertility Characteristics

(For all women 15 years of age and older)

18. How many children born alive have you had?

Mark the responses according to page 47 of your manual.

____ Number
[] 00 None
[] 99 Unknown
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D) Fertility Characteristics (For all girls and women aged 15 and older)

If the person is a man or a girl aged less than 15, cross out question 18-21 with a large X.

The purpose of questions 18-21 is to obtain information that will allow fertility as well as important characteristics related to population growth to be studied. They are also oriented toward obtaining information for studies about the mortality level and previous mortality trends in the country's population.

To research such an important topic sufficiently requires the enumerator to be delicate and extremely clever in getting the data.

[p. 47]

Ask all girls and women aged 15 and older questions 18-21, regardless of civil status. If possible, they should be asked directly of each woman. Women forget at times to declare live-born children who died, and also those who are alive but not living with them. Keep this in mind in order to avoid omissions.

It has been noted that some enumerators assume that single women don't have children and they therefore do not ask the relevant questions. This method of proceeding is incorrect and leads to poor-quality data which cannot be used to carry out studies on population growth.

Question set 18. How many live-born children have you had?
Ask this question of all girls and women aged 15 and older, regardless of their civil status. If you think it necessary, explain to the respondent the usefulness of this question and why it is necessary to ask it even of single women.

When asking this question keep in mind the following definition:

Live Born: A live-born child is one who breathes, cries, or moves. If the child showed any of these signs of life and later died, the child is considered a live-born child and should therefore be recorded as such.

Before recording this question ask as many questions on the subject as you think necessary until you are sure that the woman has not had any live-born children.

For women who have had one or more live-born children, write the appropriate number after the word "Number _____."

If the respondent does not know if the women in question has had live-born children, write an "X" in box 99, "Unknown."

[p. 48]

For women who have not had any live-born children, write an "X" in the 00 box, "None." Do not ask questions 19-21, and cross them out with a large "X."