Question 4: In what solar calendar month and year was (name) born?
Interviewers need to ask respondent and fill in his/her actual month and year of birth by solar calendar. Interviewers fill in month of birth in two cells in the line for "month". If the month of birth is less than 10, interviewers place "0" in the cell on the left. Filling in the last 3 digits of year of birth in the 3 cells for the line "year".
Note: For persons who were born before April 1899 (100 years old and older), interviewers should also report their information on "List of elderly aged 100 years and older" (appendix 5) after filling in their month and year of birth.
In fact, it is difficult to have correct information on month and year of birth in solar calendar for many people, especially for elderly. Therefore, interviewers should pay attention to several points:
a) Respondent only remembers his/her month, year of birth or age by lunar calendar:
When respondent answer month of birth, interviewers should reconfirm if it is by solar calendar or lunar calendar. If respondent use lunar calendar, interviewers should add 1 unit to have correct solar calendar month of birth (usually, lunar calendar is one month behind solar calendar).
If respondent only remembers year of birth by lunar calendar, interviewers should use "Lunar calendar and solar calendar conversion table" (appendix 2) to convert lunar calendar year into solar calendar year.
In cases where respondent only remembers "zodiac" (chi) (such as: rat, buffalo, tiger, cat, etc.) of his/her year of birth by lunar calendar and can't remember stem/branch (can) (such as: Giap, At, Binh, Dinh, etc.) of that lunar calendar year, interviewers need to ask respondent's age and use "Lunar calendar and solar calendar conversion table" to define year of birth in solar calendar for that person.
In a case, respondent only remember his/her age using lunar calendar, interviewers estimate his/her year of birth in solar calendar, as follow:
Year of enumeration (1999) - age in lunar calendar + 1 = Year of birth in solar calendar
b) Respondent doesn't remember month, year of birth by either lunar calendar or solar calendar
Respondent doesn't remember month of birth: Interviewers need to ask several questions in order to approximate month of birth in solar calendar. If respondent is still not able to report month of birth, interviewers fill in code (**) (not available) in the cells for month of birth.
Respondent doesn't remember year of birth and age: Interviewers can ask several questions to define respondent's age. If respondent is still not able to report his/her age, interviewers may estimate respondent's age (based on his/her appearance, age of the first child, age of brother/sister, etc.), then year of birth in solar calendar. Interviewers shouldn't fill in code "not available" or leave year of birth blank.