Questionnaire Text

Questionnaire form view entire document: text image

For all persons
[Questions 1-10 were asked of all persons.]

5. What is the person's present marital status?

[] 1 Never married
[] 2 Married
[] 3 Separated
[] 4 Divorced
[] 5 Widowed

Questionnaire instructions view entire document: text image

Questions on Personal Characteristics
Questions 1 to 7 provide information on personal characteristics such as age, sex, marital status and religion. They help us to plan for the needs of communities.

Question 5: Marital Status
This question asks if the person is never married, married, separated, divorced, or widowed. This is called the person's marital status.

Q5. What is the person's present marital status?

[] 1. Never married
[] 2. Married
[] 3. Separated
[] 4. Divorced
[] 5. Widowed

Who to ask: Ask the head of the household or the person responding.

Get this information for: All persons. If is not necessary to ask the question for young children who are obviously not married. Use your judgment and ask only about those people who could be married.

Be very careful not to offend respondents. If they say someone is married or that someone is divorced, accept whatever they tell you. Do not try to find out whether they have a legal marriage or are just living together, or whether they have a legal divorce or not.

How to ask: You should simply ask "Are you/ is he/she single, married, divorced, separated, or widowed?

How to record: Write in the box the correct code, 1-5, from the census form. For example, if a person says he is currently widowed, Code 5 should be written in the box.

--A woman or a man is widowed (Code 5) if the spouse has died.
--If a widow has remarried, record her/him as Married (Code 2).
--If a man has remarried - Record him as Married (Code 2).
--Remember to record Code 1 for children, or anyone obviously never married.
--If a couple is apart for a long time, or if one is far away, (e.g. working in another province), they are still married (Code 2) unless they have decided that their marriage has ended. Separated in the codes does not mean separated by distances.