_Yesterday, did you cook or prepare breakfast, lunch, or dinner?’_ The 2010 Nepal LSMS uses questions such as _‘How many hours has [name] spent doing the following activities: C. Processing preserved food (pickle, jam, wine, etc.) and milling?; I. Cooking/ serving food for household?; J. Cleaning house, laundry, dishes?; K. Shopping for household?’._

# 4.2.3. Stylized questions

Most LFS as well as LSMS(‐ISA) surveys rely on stylized questions. LSMS‐ISA surveys typically include (a variant of<sup>13</sup> ) the following five stylized questions: _‘In the last [reference period] did you (1) work on household farming activities, (2) run a non‐farm business, (3) help in any kind of non‐farm business, (4) work as an employee for a wage, salary, commission or any payment in kind, (5) engage in an unpaid apprenticeship’._ Nearly all LSMS‐ISA surveys use a 7‐day reference period<sup>14</sup> , sometimes complemented by a 12‐month reference period, such as in the 2016/17 Malawi, the 2014/15 Tanzania and the 2013/14 Uganda LSMS‐ISA survey _._ The LSMS reference book – a book edited by Grosh and Glewwe and published in 2000 which discusses all LSMS modules ‐ emphasizes that questions 2 and 3 should include examples to ‘cover the wide range of potential self‐employment activities’ and stresses that ‘careful preliminary research should be carried out to determine which phrases best capture all self‐employment activities’ (Grosh & Glewwe, 2000, chapter 9). In practice, most LSMS‐ISA surveys do not systematically clarify the concept non‐farm business, although the question sometimes includes examples of non‐farm businesses. The question in the 2015/16 Nigeria LSMS‐ISA survey, for instance, reads as _‘During the past 7 days, has [name] worked on his/her own account or in a business enterprise belonging to [name] or someone in this household, for example, as a trader, shop‐keeper, barber, dressmaker, carpenter or taxi driver?’._ Stylized questions are also used in LSMS‐ISA surveys to measure unpaid work and collect time use data on domestic activities, such as collecting water and firewood. For instance, the LSMS‐ ISA surveys in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda include the questions ‘ _How many hours did you spend collecting water? (hours)’_ and ‘ _How many hours did you spend collecting firewood (or other fuel materials)? (hours)_ ’. The 2015/16 Ethiopia LSMS‐ISA survey starts with a yes‐no question to screen whether the respondent participated in the activity and then records time spent by activity in hours and minutes, whereas the 2015/16 Nigeria LSMS‐ISA survey only records minutes. LSMS‐ISA surveys do not collect data on domestic activities (or service provision), such as preparing meals or taking care of children/elderly. The 2013/14 Uganda LSMS‐ISA survey is the only exception and includes a single question on domestic activities (‘ _How many hours did [name] spend on domestic activities? (hours)’)._ Stylized questions may contain keywords that are not always clearly defined. The measurement of ‘casual labor’ in LSMS‐ISA surveys is, for instance, problematic. Most labor

> 13 One variant, common in LSMS‐ISA surveys, is open questions _(‘How many hours in the [reference period] did you spend on [activity]?’)_ rather than closed, binary questions ( _‘Did you work on [activity] in [reference period]?’_ ). Open questions aim to capture the employment status and time use in a single question.

> 14 Questions related to the reference period are worded slightly differently across surveys. Surveys either refer to the _‘last 7 days’_ or ‘ _the last week’_ . Whether respondents wrongly interpret _‘last week’_ as the last full week ranging from Monday to Sunday and whether this affects the employment data is unclear.

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