: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S ABSTRACT The Analytical Returns to Measuring a Detailed Household Roster * Households are dynamic while most surveys only collect information on individuals who are present at a single point in time. We exploit a unique and thorough household membership

Introduction Standard procedures for conducting household-based surveys require obtaining a list of household residents. These lists, called rosters are used for complete enumeration of the household, for randomized selection of respondents, and for establishing the eligibility of certain

interviews were completed, about a third of them with each version of the questionnaire. The results indicated that both experimental versions of the roster questions yielded more persons per household than the standard version; however, only the version that did not require full names yielded more persons

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4759

Abstract Despite evidence of coverage errors and net undercounts in surveys due to listing errors and omissions from household rosters, little systematic attention has been devoted to the measurement properties of household rosters. This article draws on data from the Living Situation Survey, a

knowledge and household residents. This may be due to flaws in the ways practical improvements in roster methods. As we the census roster questions were asked and in their continue to gain insight into the roster process, potential premise that each person can be assigned to one and only causes of coverage

information available in the late 1970s. For the most part, the date of birth and age variables were collected during fielding of the “Household Roster ” (HHR) section of the questionnaire. Date of birth variables (e.g., ‘Day of R’s Birth, ’ ‘Month of R’s Birth, ’ and ‘Year of R’s Birth’) are

of coresident persons suggests that the young, all males, and especially consensual partners are most likely to be omitted from household rosters. The use of administrative files to develop lists of individuals forcensus coverage research has been attempted in the past using Internal Revenue Service taxpayer

. As age inconsistencies were discovered, Census made date of birth information available in the late 1970s. Additional age variables have been collected in the “Household Roster ” section of the questionnaire for those interviewed in recent rounds (i.e., ‘Age of Respondent, 87 ’ and ‘Age of Respondent, 89

the household roster component of recent Demographic and Health Surveys. The focus is on the tendency of the elderly to live with children and grandchildren, and we examine distributions and determinants. Results show that older adults in sub-Saharan Africa live in a variety of household arrangements. Men