Help for section about you

Your age

Please write how old you were (number of years) on your last birthday. If you are completing this form on behalf of a baby who is less than 12 months old, please write "0".

Your main occupation

We would like to know what sort of job you mainly do; we only need a brief description or generic term (e.g. cleaner, shop assistant, office worker, teacher, nurse, student). If you are retired or unemployed, please write "retired" or "unemployed". Knowing how people's jobs can determine their social network of contacts is an important aim of our survey.

How many people live in your home?

We would like to know how big your household is, how many people live at your home. This is for the residence you spend the most time at if you have more than one place of residence. We define people who live with you as those you share a kitchen with, or have access to your kitchen. In most homes this will be straightforward, but in certain residences, such as student halls or care-homes, this may be difficult to determine. In such cases we would like you to estimate how many people live in your residence by thinking how many people who normally stay overnight there either have access to your kitchen or are fed on food from your kitchen.

What is the first part of your postcode?

We only need to know the first three or four characters of your postcode. For example, if your full postcode were CV4 7AL, you would just write CV4. This is for the residence you spend the most time at if you have more than one place of residence. If you are a student, this would normally be where you stay during term-time, rather than your parents' home. We would like this information to see which area of the country you live in, and to see if there are regional differences in people's social contact behaviour.