Once inside a household, the interviewer should ask
what the total number of members of that household
is. Special training is necessary to accurately determine
household size.
After determining the household size, interviewers should
exclude those members who are not currently at home,
are under the age of 18 and/or suffer from a disease or a
disorder that might substantially diminish their ability to
understand the nature and the content of the interview,
and then select potential respondents randomly by using
a random number table or asking a household member to
select a numbered card from a blind deck of cards. The
goal is to interview one person per household.
If a selected household member is unwilling to participate
for any reason, make a note of it and move on to a new
household following the steps described above.
An informed consent form must be signed before the interview
can begin.
In each household, interviewers must record: (a) how
many individuals were asked to participate in the survey;
(b) how many of the selected respondents agreed to
the interview and were interviewed; and (c) how many of
the selected respondents refused the interview. These raw
numbers will be used to calculate participation rates.
Interviewers can now proceed with the questionnaire.