3. Relationship to the head of the household

Question 3: Relationship to head of the household

108. Once you have established the head of a household, mark her/his relationship as [1] "Head" in question 3. Then establish the relationship of each person in the household to this head. As you write the names of household members in column 2, mark relationship in column 3 and Sex in column 4 at the same time. You will realize that in most cases you will be using the relationship to the head, sex and birth order of children to fill-in column 2.

109. For example: for head of household, mark "[1]" in column 2 and if female then mark [2] in column 4. Then mark the relationship of each person to the head of household as given in the code list.

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110. Before you record the information you should find out whether or not the child identified as 'son' or 'daughter' is the head's biological child. If he/she is not, establish further whether he/she falls under [10] - adopted child, [4] -son/daughter in law, [9] -other-relative or [11] - non-relative. This must be done for each child and person in the household.

111. There may be instances where there are several persons who are not related by blood or marriage but who are still members of the same household. These are more likely to occur in urban areas. Take the eldest person or if they are all the same age then make the one who coordinators activities in the house like paying rent, bills, etc. or the person who moved in the dwelling first and invited the rest. Record him/her as "head" [1] and the rest as "non-relative" [11]. There may be many such cases in Yangon or major cities/towns where more than one unrelated person (such as students) may be living in a conventional household. This may also be applicable in the government staff quarters for the single persons.

112. Note that the head of household can be a male or a female. In some places, you will find a woman as the head of the household. Do not always imagine that the head of household must be a man. If the household head is a woman, code appropriately and include the relationships of other household members to her.