Personal information

When people get asked to answer questionnaires they do not like providing personal information, and it is often illegal to ask personal information.   To solve these problems, you can:

• Record a person’s sex without asking them to their face
• Record a person’s age by deciding which age group they fit into.  For example:
• under 16
• 16-25
• 25-40
• 40-60
• 60+

In most cases, a rough idea of a person’s age will be sufficient.

• It may also be difficult to ask people about their marital status.  However, it might be OK to ask if they are visiting alone, or how many adults and children are in the group they are with. 
• It is also not necessary to ask a person’s address.  They could be asked to give the first three digits of their post code (e.g. CF5 or MK18).  This can give an indication of where they have come from.  Alternatively, they could be asked approximately how far they have travelled.  For example:
• Under 10 miles
• 10-25 miles
• 25-50 miles
• Over 50 miles