Asking Questions - The Definitive Guide To Questionnaire Design ...

ASKING STANDARD DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS 265
Foster child
Other nonrelative
This is a basic U.S. Census question. It should be pointed out
that the number of nontraditional households has increased rapidly
since our earlier edition, and the detailed relationship and nonrelationship
categories are clearly needed.
What is your/(NAME’s) sex?
Asking About Gender
Male
Female
Sometimes a person’s gender is obvious from his or her name or
voice, but sometimes the name or the voice is not diagnostic. If initials
are used, an interviewer has more leeway in asking the gender
question because most people will recognize it as merely a formality.
Asking About Age
To accurately capture a person’s age and to minimize the chance of
error, the U.S. Census Bureau asks two questions.
1. What is your age as of (DATE)?
2. What is your date of birth? (MONTH/DAY/YEAR)
The U.S. Census Bureau has found the way to get the most
accurate age reports is to ask for both age and date of birth. One can
be checked against the other at the time of the interview, and any
discrepancy can be resolved quickly. Checking age against birth
date may reduce the likelihood of a careless mistake or a coy attempt
to stay at age thirty-nine for yet another year.
It is not clear how strong this bias is, or how often mistakes are
made. As a result, in most studies where age is only one of many
independent variables and not of critical importance, we do not
believe it is essential to ask two questions. For most purposes, a single
question asking year of birth is sufficient. Sometimes researchers