Interviewer instructions
P05. Date of birth
Date of birth should be asked so as to validate the age given in P04. Record the date of birth in month and the year of birth in the boxes provided. For instance, for May 1969 write "05" in the first two boxes, 6 in the second box and 9 in the third box then shade 5 in the first row for a month and 6 in the second row and 9 in the third row as it is done in an example in the questionnaire.
Note: For a month there is no "0" for you to shade because double shading on a row is not allowed, hence do not forget to start with "0" when recording any month with a single digit.
If the date of birth is not known, your last resort is to use the calendar of events provided to you and the district calendar of events manual provided. The age of a person is obtained in the column headed "Date".
Do not try to place much reliance on a single event; check the reported year of birth with an event, which the person clearly remembers.
If the person in question does not know of an appropriate event coinciding exactly with his date of birth, ask him to remember an event which occurred nearer to his date of birth. Do some arithmetic to reach his date of birth either.
Finally, if everything else fails you can look at the person, check his/her position in relation to his/her siblings (brother/sister) whose ages are known in the family and through common sense establish his/her probable age. Alternatively, you can ask the person to think of his/her age-mates who know their ages, establish their ages and record the same age for him/her. Never leave P05 blank.
