A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46

126 122

The HOUSEWIFE Questionnaire

Section I

11. (a) Type of Dwelling . Households occupying ‘rooms’ should be coded “Part” against the appropriate type of S.S.D.

12. (b) Amenities . “Shared” means shared by several households, and not shared by several individuals. “Kitchen” may be either a separate room, or a kitchen-living room.

13. (c) Type of Occupancy . A Lodger should be coded as “Tenant”.

14. (e) Habitable Rooms : rooms for living or sleeping in, whether or not they are being used for this purpose at the time of the interview. A Kitchen-living room is a habitable room.

15. (f) No. of Households . A family is defined as a group of people related by blood or marriage, living together in the same unit. A Household is either the family, or a family plus boarders or servants directly attached to it.

16. (h) Informant's place of work . If an informant is working full or part time, the place of work should be given. If the informant is not working, this should be written in.

127 123

Section II

17. This Section must be completed for each household in the structurally separate dwelling. It is important that the first individual to be recorded, on the top line, should always be the chief housewife in the household. The second individual to be recorded should be her husband, if there is one. Then should follow all their unmarried children. If there is a second married woman in the same household, she should be recorded next, followed by her husband and her unmarried children. The some sequence should be followed with all other married women in the household.

18. Age. This should be age last birthday. Any children under 1 year should have their age recorded as 0.

19. Relationship to Housewife . Boarders should be included here as part of the household.

20. At Home; Away ; Those individuals living at home at the time of the interview should be coded “At Home”. Those members of the household usually living with the household but temporarily living elsewhere at the time of the interview, should be coded “Away”. People in the Forces should be coded “Away”.

21. Working; Not Working . If the individual is working only part-time, this should be coded “Working”. Individuals in the Forces should be coded “Working”.

22. Occupation : In the case of schoolchildren and students, the name and type of school or college should be entered (e.g. Smith Road Elementary; University College, London, etc.)

23. Not Moving : Those individuals who state in the course of the interview that they do not wish to move from their present home should be coded “Not Moving”.

24. Moving : Code A. This should include those who say they intend to move to another house in Willesden; Code B - those who say they intend to move to a place outside Willesden which is not a new town; Code C. - those who say they would like to move to a new town.

25. Groups . A household interviewed may contain two or more potentially separate households which would split up, each to form its own home, when new housing is available. To indicate which individuals would move together (amongst those who say they wish to move) the interviewer should ring “1” against appropriate individuals for one group, “2” for another group, and “3” for another. Those who would stay behind in the present S.S.D. should be coded as a separate group.

26. Interviewed; not interviewed . All members of the household aged 18 years and over should be interviewed. If this is done, (all, apart from the Chief Housewife, on an Ordinary Questionnaire) “Interviewed” should be coded in Section II of the Housewife questionnaire. If there is an individual 18 years of age or more who, for some reason, is not interviewed, then “Not Interviewed” should be coded.

Section III

27. Question 2(i) . If the informant was born in Willesden, the interviewer should take the year he was born as the year he first came to Willesden.

28. Question 2(iii) . Informants born in Eire should be coded “Abroad”.

29. Question 4 . The pre-codes in this question should not be used as a prompt-list. The code “None” is applicable only where the informant states definitely that he thinks no improvements are necessary. Where the informant is unable to think of anything, but does not state that he thinks none are needed, the code “Don't know” should be used.

Section IV

30. Question 5(ii) . The “other sort” of neighbourhood will be a mixed neighbourhood where “same level” has been coded in (i). Where “mixed” has been coded in (i), the “other sort” will be a neighbourhood where everybody is of the same level.

31. Question 6 . The definition of “relatives” should be left to the informant.

32. Question 7 . The interviewer should be careful here not to give the impression that neighbourly relations are thought to be either a good thing or a bad thing.

33. Question 8 . If the shopping centre is in Willesden, the name of the street should be written in. If it is outside Willesden, the name of the district is sufficient. If it is in the West End, write in “West End”.

Section V

34. At the top of this Section, “working” or “not working” should be coded appropriately. If the informant is not working, the rest of this Section will not apply.

35. Question 9(iii) . “Doubtful” should be coded where the informant replies, e.g. “Yes, if.” mentioning conditions. “Don't know” should only be coded where the informant can give no opinion on this question.

128 124

Section VI

36. Theatre : includes Music Hall.

37. Park : i.e. Public Parks in Willesden.

38. Winter; Summer : In the case of the Public Park and the Swimming Bath, the informant should be asked about his habits at each of these seasons.

39. Slipper Bath : baths provided by the Corporation for the use of those who have no bathroom of their own.

40. Public Laundry : facilities provided by the Corporation for the use of those who do their own washing. This does not refer to commercial laundries collecting and delivering at the door.

41. Name of the one visited most . Here the actual name of the cinema, library, etc., visited most should be written in. If several are visited indiscriminately (as may be the case with cinemas, for example) the one first mentioned should be written in.

Section VII

42. Question 12(i) . “Plans” means definite plans to move, not a mere wish to move.

43. Question 12(ii) . For the use of “doubtful” see instruction 35 above.

44. Question 12(iii) Inner London means inside the L.C.C. area; Outer London, outside the L.C.C. area but within Greater London.

45. Question 13 This question must be asked of all informants, even though in Question 12 he may have expressed willingness to move from his present home. The desire for better housing may have been an overriding factor in making him wish to move; but the intention of this question is to discover how far the factors listed enter his mind when thinking about moving.

46. Question 15 Parts (i), (ii) and (iii) must be asked of all informants. “Why”, at the end of the question, should be asked only of those who say “No” or “Doubtful” to Part; (i), and should be asked immediately after (i).

47. Question 16 The list of house-types may be used as a prompt list, but only one preference must be coded. If the informant says, e.g. that he would buy “if he could afford it”, etc., the interviewer should explain that house prices are to be assumed to be at approximately a 1939 level.

48. Question 16 (ii) Weekly rent should be expressed in shillings .

The ORDINARY Questionnaire

This questionnaire is identical with the Housewife questionnaire, except that:

  1. (i) it does not contain so complete a Classification.

  2. (ii) it does not contain Section II

  3. (iii) only one part of Question 8 is asked

  4. (iv) the last three activities in Section VI are not asked

  5. (v) Question 16 on this questionnaire is asked only of married women.

Apart from these points, the preceding instructions for the Housewife questionnaire apply equally to the Ordinary questionnaire.

We use cookies to track usage and preferences.

Privacy & Cookie Policy Accept & Close