Residence Rules

A design objective in many surveys is to measure characteristics of the population and housing in specified geographic areas. Some surveys, in addition, attempt to estimate counts of the population in these areas. A key component of the process needed to accomplish these goals is a clear set of residence rules, the rules that determine who should be included and who should be excluded from consideration as a member of a household.

It is important to recognize that the issue of defining residence applies to individuals rather than to households. In a given household, the residence of some members may be clear, whereas for others the rules discussed in this entry may need to be applied.

The question of "who belongs here" is self-evident in a ...