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Printable version
Key Statistics - article, November 2000, p7
Describes the background, objectives, methodology, and timetable for these two surveys.
2001 Post-Census Surveys: Māori Language Survey & Disability Survey1
Introduction
Statistics New Zealand is undertaking two special post-census surveys in 2001 following on from the March 2001 Population Census. The first is the Survey on the Health of the Māori Language, sponsored by Te Puni Kōkiri. The interviewing for this survey will take place in May and June 2001. The second is the Disability Survey, when interviewing will run from June to October 2001. The surveys are quite separate and Statistics New Zealand aims to ensure that no one is included in both surveys.
Post-census surveys are typically of a relatively small or dispersed population, where the sample for the survey is drawn using variables collected in a census. This method focuses survey resources and reduces the need for time consuming and expensive screening for the target population.
The population for the Māori Language Survey is people of the Māori ethnic group aged 15 years or older. The Disability Survey will define its sample using two census questions that allow respondents to report having activity limitations. Activity limitation is defined as: “Any self perceived limitation in activity resulting from a long-term condition or health problem; lasting or expected to last six months or more and not completely eliminated by an assistive device.”
This article describes the background, objectives, methodology, and timetable for each of these two surveys.
Survey on the Health of the Māori Language
Background
The Māori Language Commission undertook a national Māori Language Survey in 1995 in association with Te Puni Kōkiri and Statistics New Zealand. This survey showed that 59 percent of all Māori adults spoke the Māori language to some extent. This 59 percent is made up of 43 percent who spoke the Māori language with low fluency, 9 percent with medium fluency and 8 percent with high fluency. Of those who spoke with high fluency, one-third were aged 60 years or over.
In 1999, the Government approved funds to be allocated to Te Puni Kōkiri for a major Māori language survey. The survey results will be used to develop policies and programmes for the Māori Language Strategy that the Government adopted in 1997. The overall aim of this strategy is to revitalise the Māori language, and its objectives for achieving this include:
- increasing the number of people who know the Māori language by increasing their opportunities to learn and use Māori; and
- improving people’s proficiency levels in Māori.
Objectives
Te Puni Kōkiri will use survey results to assess how well the Māori Language Strategy is working and to develop directions for the future. In particular, the Government invests in education and broadcasting to achieve the objectives of the strategy. The survey will provide information on government investment by showing how many Māori listen to Māori radio, watch Māori TV programmes and study Māori language courses.
The survey results will also show to what extent the strategy is working by providing estimates of the numbers of Māori who speak te reo at different proficiency levels. This will provide an indication of whether revitalisation is occurring evenly across the Māori population or whether some groups are benefiting more than others. It will help with decisions on whether to target programmes to particular groups or regions, and whether to develop new programmes. The information gathered in the proposed survey will be used to establish the benchmarks against which Māori language revitalisation is to be measured over time.
The purpose of the Survey on the Health of the Māori Language is to describe the status of the Māori language by:
- examining Māori language proficiency among Māori adults aged 15 and over;
- examining Māori language behaviours and experiences among Māori adults aged 15 and over; and
- investigating where the Māori language is heard and seen, and how available Māori language materials and resources are.
Methodology
A random sample will be selected from those who are aged 15 years and over and who identify their ethnicity as Māori on their census forms in March 2001. About 7,000 people will be selected nationwide.
Respondents will be interviewed between 12 May and 24 June 2001. Those selected to take part will have the choice of an interview in either Māori or English. Interviews will take place in respondents’ homes. The interview will take about 45 minutes.
The questions will cover:
- respondents’ experience of Māori language as a child within their home – which family members spoke to them in Māori;
- how well respondents can speak, understand, read and write Māori language;
- where (at home, at work, at school, on the marae, etc) people speak or hear Māori;
- whether people listen to Māori radio or watch Māori TV programmes and for how long;
- what material written in Māori people read or see;
- whether people write Māori language letters, emails or articles, etc;
- what Māori language courses respondents have attended; and
- whether respondents’ children attend köhanga reo, or bilingual or immersion units at school.
So that Te Puni Kōkiri can get an accurate picture of the health of the Māori language, Statistics New Zealand needs to obtain information from a wide range of people, including people who do not use any Māori language. The questions are not difficult nor do they include any test of how well people speak Māori.
Results
From the results of the survey, indicators will be chosen that can be used to assess the health of the Māori language. The indicators are:
- the number of people who know the Māori language
- the availability of opportunities to learn Māori
- the proficiency with which speakers use Māori
- presence and visibility of the Māori language
- use of the Māori language.
Results will be published in June 2002. Later, Te Puni Kōkiri will publish a comprehensive report on the status of the Māori language based on the survey results.
Disability Survey
Background
New Zealand’s first national Disability Survey was held in mid-1996 as a post-census survey. The results showed that 19 percent of people in households have one or more disabilities and that 52 percent of people aged 65 and over have some form of disability.
By 2051, a quarter of New Zealanders will be 65 and over – about 12 percent in 2000. The population with disabilities will therefore increase in coming decades purely because of population ageing. The implications of equal access to services and employment for people with disabilities will grow in importance.
The Government has approved funds for Statistics New Zealand to undertake a 2001 Disability Survey. It will provide comparable statistics to those from the 1996 survey.
Objectives
The key objectives of the 2001 Disability Survey are as follows:
- To measure the prevalence of activity limitations among:
- children, adults and older persons at the national and regional levels; and
- Maori and Pacific peoples at the national level.
- To provide information on the nature, duration, severity and cause of activity limitations among the population with activity limitations.
- To obtain data on the socio-demographic characteristics of the population with activity limitations, including their age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, educational qualifications, labour force status, income, and household and family circumstances.
Methodology
As in 1996, the 2001 Census questionnaire will include two questions on whether people have activity limitations or not. The survey population for the Disability Survey will be drawn from people who report that they do have activity limitations, and it will also include a sample of people who report they don’t. This is because some people who report in the census that they do not have an activity limitation change to reporting they do when asked the more detailed questions of the Disability Survey.
An activity limitation is being unable, or able only with difficulty, to perform daily activities such as reading a newspaper or walking up a flight of stairs. The survey population is the usually resident population of New Zealand living in private dwellings at the 2001 Population Census.
The selected sample size will be about 40,000 individuals. The sample size is double that of the 1996 Household Disability Survey, in order to provide reliable estimates for Māori and Pacific peoples. It will include about 10,000 Māori and 10,000 Pacific people.
About 80 percent of respondents will be interviewed by telephone and the remainder face to face. Statistics New Zealand is planning to introduce centralised computer-assisted telephone interviewing for the Disability Survey. Interviewers in Statistics New Zealand’s Auckland office will have an electronic questionnaire on computer and will enter respondents’ answers as they go. The computer system will automatically route the interviewer through the questionnaire and will flag missed questions or inconsistent answers. Survey fieldwork will run from June 2001 to October 2001.
Two types of questionnaires will be used in the survey: screening and content questionnaires. The screening questionnaires ask questions about whether the respondent has any of a range of different types of activity limitation. If the respondent answers positively to any of these screening questions, the content questionnaire is administered.
The content questionnaire asks about:
- support services the respondent uses
- technical equipment
- disability-related expenses
- unmet needs for support and equipment.
Interviewing times are about 10 minutes for screening interviews, and 30 minutes for content interviews.
The screening and content questionnaires for children are slightly different from those for adults to allow for activity limitations, such as difficulty walking, that don’t apply to very small children. For children aged less than 15 years, or when an adult respondent is not capable of responding for themselves, interviewers will ask a responsible adult to provide data on their behalf.
Statistics New Zealand has established a Disability Survey consultative group to ensure that external stakeholders’ needs are met.
To provide a more complete picture of disability, Statistics New Zealand will conduct a survey of people living in residential facilities in November 2001. The population for the residential survey is people aged 15 and over living in residential facilities such as retirement homes, psychiatric hospitals, and long-stay wards of hospitals (but not prisons). Statistics New Zealand conducted a similar residential Disability Survey in 1997.
Results of the household and residential surveys combined are due in April 2002. The results will include estimates of the numbers and proportions of New Zealanders with different types of activity limitations. Activity limitations for adults are classified as follows:
- Physical
- Sensory
- Psychiatric/Psychological
- Intellectual
- Other
- Speaking
- Learning and remembering
Further information
For further information about the Survey on the Health of the Māori Language, contact Steven Chrisp, Te Puni Kōkiri, on chrit@tpk.govt.nz or 04 922 6114, or Paul Satherley, Statistics New Zealand on paul_satherley@stats.govt.nz or 04 495 4716.
For further information about the Disability Survey contact Bridget Murphy, Statistics New Zealand on bridget_murphy@stats.govt.nz or 04 495 8067, or Paul Satherley, Statistics New Zealand on paul_satherley@stats.govt.nz or 04 495 4716.
Footnote
01MaoriLangDisability.pdf (65Kb)
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