Questionnaire Text

Questionnaire form view entire document:  text  image
A. Questions to be asked to all members of the household
[Questions 1-14.]


P05. _ _ / _ _ _ _ Date of birth

What is the date of birth of ____?

Write down the month and the year of birth, as they are declared, in the corresponding boxes.

If the date is known, go to P07
If the date is unknown, go to P06

Questionnaire instructions view entire document:  text  image

P05: Date of birth

This is a very important question, and every census enumerator must be able to obtain a clear answer, fair and complete.

[p.33]

One knows that every planning activity is based above all on the knowledge of the age structure of the population, and that all human activities involve the age. The more accurate the age structure is, the better will be the accomplishment of the goal to be obtained.

Example:

1) For someone who was born on April 1, 1942, one will write 01/04/1942, before going to question P07.
2) For someone who was born in August, 1953, one will write /08/1953, before going to question P07.
3) Someone who does not know his/her month of birth and who says to be born in 1958, one will write /00/1958, before going to question P07.
4) For someone who ignores totally his/her date of birth, one will write /00/0000 in P05, before going to question P06.

Remark:

1. On P05, there cannot be any empty space; when there is no data concerning the day, month or year of birth, one write zeros. This shows that the question has been asked properly, but that there was no real answer.

2. When parents do not know the month of births of their children
A child who does not yet have his/her first teeth is generally aged less than 6 months; if he/she has two bottom teeth, he/she is between 6 and 8 months. One could also find help with the vaccination cards for determining the approximate age of the child.

The census enumerator will need to be aware of some of habits taken by many people, either by laziness or by ignorance. By this it is meant to give only the year of birth, when the person is well able to also provide the day and the month. Many people are indeed like this.

The census enumerator shall insist to have a clear and complete answer. The consequences of such a situation are important, in particular with respect to the quality of the data collected during a census.

Example:
A person who says being born in 1975 could make one believe that he/she is 27 year old in 2002. However, if one considers the day and the month of his/her birth in 1975, this person could be either 26 or 27 year old on August 15, 2002, so that the answer given is not of great help, whereas it is considered of the utmost importance for the census. It is therefore important that the census enumerator be clear-sighted, so that this type of answer remains as less frequent as possible.