7. How old was (the respondent) on his/her last birthday?
The first two columns must be completed before entries are made anywhere else in the questionnaire.
112. Column 7: Age
Age in completed years: The question to be asked here is "Lilemo Ii kae tseo u Ii qetileng?" (how old are you in completed years?)
e.g. if a person is aged 37 years and 11 months, the exact age in completed years to be recorded is 37. Sometimes the person will not directly remember his age, but will remember his birth year and you will have to work out his age in completed years. In the event that the person does not know his age but remembers historical event associated with his birth, use the calendar of events. If the event is not included in the calendar asks how old the person was at some recorded event. Note that the question on age is one of the most important ones on the questionnaire. If the above methods on ascertaining age prove to be fruitless, obtain an estimate of his/her age from the village headman and the neighbors, and then put a circle around it after recording it in column 5 e.g. (74). (This will be the only instances where ages are surrounded with circles).
113. Always try to get answers that are accurate or reasonable in the sense that they are consistent with the person's status in the family. For example, a 65 year old grandmother is not expected to have a 1 year old child, or an 18 year old son be mothered by a 19 year old woman. Please note that children under the age of 1 should be entered as '00' in the column of age.
114. These five columns must be completed before entries are made anywhere in the questionnaire.