Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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COLLECTION METHODS

STANDARD QUESTION MODULE

Household based surveys

21. For household based interviewer surveys the recommended question module is:

	Have you ever had any children who were born alive?
	Yes
	No
	How many?
	One
	Two
	Three
	Four
	Five
	Six
	Seven
	Eight
	Nine or more

Self enumerated collections

22. The recommended question module for household based respondent enumerated collections (for example, the Census):

	For each female, how many babies has she ever had? (Include only live births)
	None
	One
	Two
	Three
	Four
	Five
	Six or more

Administrative data collections

23. For administrative collections the exact wording of the questions asked may depend on the context of the questionnaire and on the need to collect other variables associated with the number of children.

• In the case of birth collections the following approach is used in States which collect information about children born in a previous relationship (for example, NSW):

Previous Children of This Relationship
Enter in order of birth.
Include legally adopted children.
If deceased enter D in age column.
If not born alive enter SB in age column.
If no previous children of this relationship write "None" in first column.
Age of each child at the time of birth of the current child.

	First Names	Age	Date of birth	Sex
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____


Other Children of the Mother But Not of This Relationship
Enter in order of birth.
Include legally adopted children.
If deceased enter D in age column.
If not born alive enter SB in age column.
If the mother does not have children born to her from another relationship, write "None" in first column.
Age of each child at the time of birth of the current child.

	First Names	Age	Date of birth	Sex
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____

• In death collections the following approach is used:

Children of Deceased (if applicable)
Enter in order of birth.
Include legally adopted children.
If deceased enter D in the age column.
If not born alive enter SB in age column.
If no children of deceased write "None" in first column.

	First Names	Age	Date of birth	Sex
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____
			__/__/____

• If there are no complicating factors, the following wording is recommended for administrative forms:
  
  How many babies have you/has ..... [the person] ever had?
  (include only live births)

24. The standard input categories are Number of children ever born:

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 or more