VI. Household member characteristics
VI-A: All ages
[Questions 1-13.]
4. Age
_ _ years
Question 4: Age (year of birth)
Information about age is very important, hence it should be asked correctly and carefully. Age is counted in years rounded downwards, or the age based on the last birthday.
If the respondent only knows another calendar system, then the age information should be converted into the Christian calendar. This manual only includes the conversion [table] between Javanese, Sundanese and Islamic calendars (Attachment 4 and Attachment 5).
Attachment 6 describes the method to calculate the age of the respondents if the date, month and year of birth are known. This list is made to calculate the age of respondents who were born from 1964/1965 onward.
There are some ways of calculating the age based on information gained from the respondent.
1. If the date, month and year in the Christian calendar are known, then age can be directly calculated.
2. If the date, month and year are known in the the Islamic calendar, then use Conversion I in Attachment 4 for birth years 1982-1990 (1402 H - 1410 H). Use Conversion II in Attachment 5 for birth years before 1982 (1402 H).
3. If month and year are known in the Islamic calendar, use Conversion II in Attachment 5 for birth years 1938-1981 (1356 H - 1401 H).
4. If only the month and year are known in the Christian calendar, then age can be calculated using the Assistance list in Attachment 6.
5. If only the year of birth is known in the Islamic calendar, use Attachment 4 and Attachment 5 for the birth years 1938-1990 (1356 H - 1410 H).
If the month of birth is unknown, try to gain this information using several ways that have been explained before in the procedure of getting information of age section.
Example:
1. Suwardi was born on January 1946 and the interview is held on October 1990; subtract 1946 from 1990, and because January is before October, then his age is (1990-1946) = 44 years.
2. Purwanti was born on the 30th of December 1954 and the interview is held on the 10th of October 1990. Thus the time between year of birth and year of interview is (1989-1954) = 35 because on the enumeration date Purwanti is not yet 36 years old, thus Purwanti's age is 35 years.
3. Aminudin says that he was born in 1925, but he does not know the exact date and month. Because the SP90 is conducted in October, then it is assumed that he is (1990-1925) 65 years old.
Enumeration is conducted in a society that uses the Islamic calendar. A child was born on the 12th of Zulkaidah two years before the interview. In Attachment 4, Table D (1987) can be seen that Zulkaidah can be converted [to a date between] June 27 and July 27, 1987. Therefore, the 12th of Zulkaidah equals (26 + 12 - 30) = July 8, 1987.
If the respondent was born on the 3rd of Zulkaidah two years before the interview, then the respondent was born on (26 + 3) = June 29, 1987.
If the respondents only know the age/birth year outside the Christian calendar, such as the Javanese calendar, Sundanese calendar, or Islamic calendar, convert the age/birth year into the Christian calendar.
If the respondents do not know their age at all, try to obtain the age by using [one of] several ways as follows:
1. Ask for the identity card, birth certificate or baptism letter that can give information about their age. Subtract the the date of issue of those documents from the date of the enumeration.
2. Relate the age of that person to the age of other household members whose age is known. For example, a mother says that she was 19 years old when her first child was born and her child is 13 years old now. Therefore, the calculation of the mother's age is (19 + 13) 32 years.
3. Associate the birth year with the important national/local event, then subtract [that year] from the year 1989. In some areas, age may be predicted from the seasons, cultural/religious ceremony, seed time/crop time, etc. Some important events are:
- Indonesia's Independence Day: August 17, 1945
- First election: 1955
- The 30th September Movement/Indonesian Communist Party (1965): September 30, 1965
4. When obtaining information on age using the second and the third method above, an opinion from the religious/society leader or village administrator is needed.
5. Use the methods above to gain information about age. The enumerators are not allowed to fill out the age of respondent in the Questionnaire with N/A (not answered) or leave it empty.
Ask the date, month and year of birth for every household member. Write it down on the paper provided, and then calculate age using the methods that have been elaborated above.