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Name of variable 4. The standard term for the variable is 'Age'. Nominal definition 5. The concept of age describes how old a person is at a particular point in time. It is defined as the measure of the time elapsed from date of live birth to a specific point in time, usually the date of collection of the data. Operational definition 7. 'Age' is measured by calculating the time elapsed (usually in complete years) between date of birth and a specific point in time (e.g. date of a particular survey). 9. In 1982 the United Nations published the paper Provisional Guidelines on Standard International Age Classifications. The document covered the main issues relevant to age as well as recommending standard international age classifications.
11. ABS practices compare reasonably well to these guidelines as ABS output for age is generally in either single, five or ten year age groupings. Some variations occur where emphasis is required for specific populations or topics (e.g. survey on the elderly). 12. The ABS recognises that it may not always be possible, for statistical or other reasons, such as legal age requirements, to adhere strictly to these guidelines. It is particularly important, however, to ensure that as many categories as possible are multiples of 5 years, or capable of aggregation to such groupings, to facilitate maximum comparability of age data from different sources.
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