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Abstract

Those who conduct applied field research cannot ignore the importance of the household as a unit of analysis. Academics and practitioners alike have written a great deal about the prominence of households around the world and throughout history. One of the difficulties often encountered with using the household as a unit of analysis is how best to compare households for the purpose of making relevant suggestions for how they might best reach their goals. This article introduces a tool to document how households are affected by changes in variables such as composition, economics, politics, and the natural environment. The article provides a step-by-step methodology for documenting household composition and other changes a household may experience over time. The methodology is then applied to a case study in which the benefits and drawbacks of this approach are discussed.

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Household Composition Timeline

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