Codes
This variable is not available for any of the currently selected samples.
Description
CALSEQ supplies an index number for each month in the woman's recall timeline, beginning with the first (earliest) month, and ending with the interview month. Thus, the highest value in CALSEQ for a woman refers to her final, interview month.
Values for CALSEQ reach at least 60 for all women in all calendar samples included in IPUMS DHS. The highest value for CALSEQ, and accordingly the number of months comprising the recorded calendar period, varies across women in a given sample and across samples.
For example, all women in the Bangladesh 2018 sample have CALSEQ values running from 1 to 70, but decreasing numbers of women in that sample also have CALSEQ values (and thus months of reporting) ranging from 71 to 75. In the 2007 Bangladesh sample, all women have CALSEQ values up to 63, and diminishing numbers of women have CALSEQ values up to 68.
If an analysis requires that women compared have comparable periods "at risk" of reproductive events, then researchers may wish to limit the period analyzed to exactly 5 years (60 months), working backward from each woman's month of interview. For this purpose, analysts should use the related variableCALSEQREV, which counts backward from the interview month (with a value of 1), a value of 2 for one month before the interview, and so on in reverse chronological order.
The differing number of months indexed by CALSEQ reflects the fact that the recording period begins in January for the earliest calendar year, but interviews may start later in the year and, for some surveys, fieldwork is spread across several months.
Comparability
Along with universe differences between samples, the maximum value for CALSEQ varies across women in a given sample and across samples.
Comparability - Standard DHS
CALSEQ is a technical variable created by IPUMS DHS staff during the processing of calendar string data from the women's (IR) files.
