Form B: Household Questionnaire Part 3: Fertility Information of Females Aged 15 and Over Listed in Column 2 of Part 2
Fertility Information
_ _ 4 Number of Children Born
(Give number in two digits like 01, 02,...................10, 11 etc. If none, write 00)
How many children have been born alive to the woman ?
_ _ (a) Male
_ _ (b) Female
How many of them are living?
_ _ (c) Male
_ _ (d) Female
How many of them have died?
_ _ (e) Male
_ _ (f) Female
Column 4: Number of Children Born
110. The questions in this Column have been designed in such a way as to elicit the vital information we require without embarrassing the respondents. We have to find out the total number of children born to a woman, number of children living and number of children dead among them. Please remember that the nature of responses you will obtain will depend, to a great extent, on how tactfully you put these questions. Great care must be taken to choose words which, while retaining the exact meaning of the questions, will not give rise to any emotional feelings. Finally, please note that the word "children" in the questions refers to the woman's own offspring of whatever age and sex and not the children of a brother, sister or husband or other relative or non-relative or adopted ones who may be living with her. You should also note that some of the respondents may be old and their memory weak. You should, therefore, exercise patience and help them to recollect the correct number of children born to them. If no child is reported for any of the questions, write 00 in the column concerned.
Note: It is common experience that the birth of the child may not be reported readily if the child is not actually surviving at the time of enumeration. Infant deaths are still high in the country. There is a chance of a number of such cases being missed unless specifically questioned about. It is necessary to record all live births even if the child has died soon thereafter or had not survived to the day of enumeration. Where a woman first answers that no child was ever born to her, you may perhaps question her as follows: "It has been found in some houses that a child was born and had died soon after or a few days or months later and such cases had not been reported. It is my hope that there are no such cases here. Am I right?" This may bring in the required response. If she reports 'No' then you can be sure that no birth has been missed.
Columns 4: (a) and (b): How many Children have been born alive to you? (Separately by males in column (a) and females in Column (b))
113. Record in the space provided, the number of the woman's own children by sex who are alive. Some of them may be in the same household and others may live elsewhere. You have to record all of them. Remember to include in this category any of the woman's own children who normally live in this household but who are absent at the time of the interview. In some cases when the children are away from their mother, she may not know whether they are living or not. In those cases write "not known" under columns 4(c) and 4(d).
Columns 4: (e) and (f): How many of them have died? (separately for male children dead in Column (e) and female children dead in Column (f)
114. Record in the space provided the number of the woman's own children by sex who are dead. Note that some women may not easily remember the number of their children who have died. Therefore, you should help the respondent to find the correct number by counting your fingers as she mentions the names of the children dead. This is a sensitive question and you must ascertain the answer without wounding the feelings of the respondent.
Note: Make sure that no child is counted more than once or omitted. Please remember that the number of children born alive to a woman should be equal to the total of number of children living and number of children dead.
Column 4 (a) = Column 4 (c) + Column 4 (e) and
Column 4 (b) = Column 4 (d) + Column 4 (f).
Column 5: Particulars of Births in the last 12 months