This report summarises findings from the design and testing of census forms for the 2006 Census. It reviews the objectives for redevelopment, documents the issues encountered during testing, and provides recommendations for the 2011 Census form development.
2006 Census Final Questionnaire Design (870 KB)
Contents
Introduction
Testing overview
1. Redeveloped questions/topics
Individual form
Usual residence
Country of birth
Māori descent and iwi
Living arrangements, household relationships and absentees
Legal marital status
Number of children born
Highest secondary school qualification
Highest post-school qualification
Study/unpaid activities
Sources of personal income
Total personal income
Dwelling form
Number of occupants on census night
Dwelling type
Dwellings held in family trusts
Ownership of dwelling
Sector of the landlord
Rent paid
Access to telecommunication systems
Number of motor vehicles
2. General features
Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR)
Routing instructions
Guide Notes/Help Notes
Māori/English form development
Online form development
Census form redevelopment work began after an extensive round of public consultation to decide which topics should be included in the 2006 Census. The results of this consultation are recorded in 2006 Census: Final Report on Content.
Alongside the consultation, a redevelopment proposal was developed to document topics that needed revision for 2006. This proposal specified the topics for redevelopment and identified the methods that would be used to monitor and evaluate changes throughout the redevelopment process. (An evaluation of the existing designs used for the 2001 Census forms and consultation with key stakeholders informed this proposal.) Questions identified for redevelopment were those affected by:
- data quality concerns – for example, growing levels of item non-response
- real world change requiring revisions to questions, such as new legislation and changes in terminology.
These and other factors had to be balanced against a guiding philosophy of 'minimal change' in order to preserve the continuity of time series data.
To preserve time series data, many topics in the 2006 Census use the same questions used in 2001. These topics, which are not discussed in this report, include: name (which is not recorded by Statistics New Zealand), sex, age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, census night address, years in New Zealand, occupation and industry, employment, labour force status, workplace address, languages spoken, rooms and bedrooms, fuel types, travel to work, internal migration and unpaid activities.
For further information on this report, please contact the Statistics New Zealand
Information centre:
Phone: 0508 525 525 (toll free in New Zealand)
+64 4 931 4600 (outside of New Zealand)
Fax: +64 4 931 4079
Email: info@stats.govt.nz