Interviewer instructions
In this section, information is collected about the births that a woman has had during her life, her current pregnancy status, and her knowledge of the monthly menstrual cycle. This is a particularly important section, and you need to be especially careful to obtain all the required information.
A respondent may consider Q337 and Q338 a personal matter, and she may feel embarrassed to talk about it. To overcome her embarrassment, you must show that you do not feel embarrassed or uncomfortable in any way. Ask the questions as if it is no different from any other questions in the questionnaire. If she is hesitant to answer any of these questions, reassure her that everything she says will be treated confidentially and that the same questions are being asked of all women in this study and other surveys in the country.
Q. 338 applies to the respondent's last, or most recent, sexual partner. Fill in the respondent's answer in the space according to the units that she uses. The YEARS AGO response should be used only if the last intercourse was at least one year ago. In other words, there should never be a response '00' YEARS.
Example: If she says “three weeks ago,” WEEKS AGO and write '03'. If she says “four days ago,” select DAYS AGO and write '04'.
If the respondent appears to be rounding off her answer, probe for an exact answer. For example, if she says “about a week ago,” ask, “Do you remember which day? Was it before or after the weekend?”
In some cases, you may have to convert a respondent's answer.
Example: If the respondent says, “this morning,” select for DAYS AGO and write '00'.
