The Statistics Act provides that population censuses be conducted every five years in New Zealand. As with a (declining) number of other countries, censuses in New Zealand are based on the model of collector drop-off and collect, although a small proportion is returned by mail. Since 1945, separate dwelling and individual forms have been provided for all households. These have been available in both English and bilingual (English/Māori) formats since the 1996 Census. Support for the census remains high, with the Post Enumeration Survey in 2001 showing a net undercount of 2.2 percent (+/– 0.3 percent).
It is recognised that this high level of support cannot be taken for granted. New Zealand society is changing in many ways. It is becoming more diverse, and people are busier and less available and less willing to accept the need to participate in statistical activities such as the census. Public attitudes in New Zealand and in many other countries indicate a strong demand for choice and convenience when interacting with government. This has been an important driver in deciding to proceed with the provision of an online form for the 2006 Census.
From a statistical perspective, the key drivers for an online form are:
- to improve/maintain participation in the census and give people choice
- improve aspects of census data quality.
Field tests have both proven the feasibility of this approach and confirmed that the drivers’ objectives are being met.
As the 2006 Census will be the first mixed-mode census in New Zealand, the learning gained from it will position Statistics New Zealand to take advantage of the efficiencies the technology can provide in the 2011 and following censuses. Statistics New Zealand has already made significant gains with imaging of forms since the 1996 Census, and will also make savings in both collection and processing costs in the future. Other major benefits should include timelier and higher-quality census data. There are also wider government benefits – the provision of online forms makes an important contribution to meeting e-government objectives for delivering a wide range of government services via the Internet.
The risks inherent in inaccurately forecasting Internet take-up levels would place the integrity of the 2006 Census in jeopardy. Therefore, there has been no attempt to leverage efficiency gains in any of the traditional census processes. Paper forms are being printed for all households and individuals, and there will be a full quota of field collectors engaged for the census. This is a longer-term investment in improving participation in and data quality from the census. The census experience of electronic data collection will also help Statistics New Zealand to better understand how this technology might improve other areas of statistical data gathering.
Available files
2006 online census form (Powerpoint, 1.8Mb)
Using Both Internet and Field Collection Methods for the 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings (PDF, 9 pages, 156kb)