Proxy Respondents

Ideally, the questions should be answered by the individual in question (self-report), except in cases for those who themselves are incapable of responding. However, in a census setting, it is common to have a primary respondent report for all other household members, which is acceptable.

In self-report situations, no one should be excluded because they cannot respond on their own, due to, for example, difficulty in hearing, communicating or an intellectual disability. A proxy respondent should be sought, however, the choice of such a person should be carefully considered.  Furthermore, it is recommended that every effort should be made to collect data from all household individuals targeted in the survey or census.

One exception to this is when implementing the CFM. As explained further on in this guidebook, such questions were designed to be answered by the parent or primary caretaker of the child.