Characteristics of the statistical populations and observation units and the rules on respondents
Article 4
1. The target population in the income and living conditions domain shall be private households and all persons composing these households in the territory of the Member State. 2. Information at household and person level shall be collected or compiled for all household members, including all sample persons and co-residents as specified in Annex II. In the selected respondent model, data shall be collected through individual interviews only from selected respondents aged 16 or over. For a sample person, starting from the second wave, information shall be obtained on whether that person remained at the same address or moved to a different address from one year to the next, as well as on the new contact information in case of change. 3. Information on household members from the previous wave who are no longer household members shall be collected to establish whether those persons have died or whether they have moved abroad or to an institution or to a different address within the national territory. 4. A household shall be included for the collection or compilation of detailed information if it contains at least one sample person. 5. In both the initial and the split-off household, the full information required for current household members and the full information at household level shall be collected or compiled. 6. At least three attempts shall be made to contact a household or person before it is considered that it, he or she is non-responding, unless there are conclusive reasons why this cannot be done (such as a definite refusal to cooperate or circumstances endangering the interviewer’s safety). 7. Where proxy interviews are allowed, the proxy rate shall be kept as limited as possible with regard to: (a) the income personal variables; (b) any variables required for at least one household member aged 16 and over. If a proxy interview is conducted, the identification of the person who has provided the information shall be recorded. 8. Detailed characteristics of the identification of households and persons shall be those set out in Annex III.