Variable UF11 : Age of child

File: ch

Children aged 0-4

The mother or caretaker of the child aged 0-4.

How old was (NAME) at his/her last birthday?

Record age in completed years.

You will begin the interview with questions about the child's date of birth and age. These are two of the most important questions in the interview, since almost all analysis of the data depends on the child's exact age. While completed age in years is sufficient for women's interviews, we need to obtain accurate information on the child's age in months. This is necessary because some of the analysis of the information that you will be collecting can only be done on the basis of age in months. You will collect this information by learning the child's date of birth. It will then be possible to compare the date of interview with the date of birth of the child and, after the data is collected, calculate the child's age in months by comparing these two pieces of information.

The questions on age and date of birth must be asked independently from similar questions on the Household Questionnaire and Questionnaire for Individual Women. The person you may be interviewing for this questionnaire may be the same woman you interviewed for the Questionnaire for Individual Women, and you may have obtained dates of birth of her children in that questionnaire. Also, you may have obtained the child's age in the Household Questionnaire. Even in such cases, you must ask these questions again.

---

After having obtained the child's date of birth, ask the child's age in completed years, and record in the space provided. Remember, ages must refer to the last birthday.

If the mother/primary caretaker does not know the current age of the child, try asking "HOW MANY YEARS AGO WAS (name) BORN?" You may help the respondent by relating the child's age to that of other children or to some important event or to the season of birth, by asking, for example, "HOW MANY WET SEASONS AGO WAS (name) BORN?"

Ask UF10 and UF11 independently. Then, check for consistency between the date of birth and completed age.

You have to be meticulous in checking for the consistency between the date of birth and age. You also have to be fairly quick in doing so. A good interviewer will perform the check without causing a lull in the conversation.

Checking for consistency between date of birth (UF10) and completed age (UF11). After having obtained both date of birth and age, check for the consistency between the two. The child's age plus her year of birth must equal the year in which the child last had a birthday. 

Assuming that you were able to obtain a month and year of birth, you should check the consistency by following these steps:
If the month of birth is before the month of interview (the child had his/her birthday this year), then her/his age plus her/his year of birth should equal the year of interview.
. Example: A child who was born in October 2003, in a survey conducted in November 2005, should be age 2 (2003 + 2 = 2005).
If the month of birth is after the month of interview (the child has not had his/her birthday this year), then her/his age plus year of birth should equal the previous year.
. Example: A child who was born in December 2003, in a survey conducted in October 2005, should be age 1 (2003 + 1 = 2004).
If the month of birth is the same as the month of interview, and the day of birth is not known, then a sum of either the current or the previous year is correct.
. Example: A child born in November 2002, in a survey conducted in November 2005, could be age 3 or age 2. Probe further to see if the date of birth is correct and whether the child has completed age 2 or 3.
If the month of birth is the same as the month of interview, and the day of birth is known, the sum of age and year of birth should equal the year of interview if the day of birth is before the day of interview, and the sum of age and year of birth should equal the previous year if the day of birth is after the day of interview.
. Example: A child born on 8 February 2002, in an interview conducted on 15 February 2006, should be age four. A child born on 28 February 2002, in an interview conducted on 3 February 2006, should be age three, since this child will complete 4 full years on 28 February 2006.

If you find that the date of birth and age are inconsistent, either the date of birth or the age, or both, are incorrect, and need to be corrected. Do not assume that one is more accurate than the other. Probe, using documents that may be available, dates of well-known events and ages of other children, of the respondent herself/himself, etc.