O levantamento de informações sobre as famílias nas PNADs de 1992 a 1999

This article examines definitions, characteristics of the survey process, special cases such as incest and polygamy and the consistency of data on household arrangements collected by the Brazilian National Household Surveys (PNAD) between 1992 and 1999. The main conclusion is that PNAD’s data is of outstanding quality. Besides that, it is prsented in a way that gives flexibility to different research purposes. Proxies and indirect methods to treat information on kinship and marital status from the survey microdata are also discussed, as well as suggestions for future surveys.