Enumerators start verifying census data

“The quality of census data must be as high as possible, as these data are very important for Estonia. Therefore, we have to check any unclear details in the e-census questionnaires,” said Mr Priit Potisepp, Director General of Statistics Estonia.

The preliminary analysis of the completed e-census questionnaires indicates that there are almost 70,000 instances where enumerators must collect missing data or specify some details. “In such cases, the people who completed the census online have missed something or have entered contradictory answers. We have to check these questionnaires once more to ensure the quality of census data,” added Potisepp.

There is also a chance of being visited by an enumerator if the person specified the registered place of residence as his/her place of usual residence in the e-census, but actually lives elsewhere. “Since all dwellings must be enumerated, the enumerators will also visit those people whose place of residence was not enumerated in the e-census – for example, when a person specified his/her registered place of residence as the place of usual residence, but actually lives elsewhere or when a person has, during the census, moved to a dwelling that was not enumerated in the e-census,” explained Potisepp.

The main reasons why enumerators have to visit people that have already participated in the e-census:

• The person made a mistake when entering the address. During the e-census, people called Statistics Estonia’s helpline to inform that they had made a mistake in the address of their place of usual residence. There are now some cases where it is not clear whether all the actual inhabitants at the given address have been enumerated or not.
• A person has not been enumerated. During the e-census, people called Statistics Estonia’s helpline to inform that they had neglected to enumerate a member of their household.
• It is necessary to verify that all permanent residents have been enumerated. This concerns dwellings where the e-census questionnaire contains contradictory data – for example, a person logged into the e-census environment as a permanent resident, but for some reason no permanent residents have been entered for his/her place of usual residence.
• There are only temporary residents in a dwelling. In the e-census, people sometimes mistakenly enumerated themselves as temporary residents of Estonia, but still entered a dwelling located in Estonia as their place of usual residence. Enumerators will check whether there are permanent residents in these dwellings.
• There are several households in a dwelling. If the number of households according to e-census data is bigger than the number of households enumerated for that dwelling, the enumerator will check whether there are any non-enumerated persons in the dwelling or whether the wrong number of households has been specified.

Together with the e-census, the number of completed Personal Questionnaires on permanent residents of Estonia is 1,244,989 as at 23:00 on 16 Feburary. NB! This number includes people who have been enumerated twice. The data will be revised during the data processing after the census and each person will only be counted once, based on the place of usual residence specified in the census. The statistics by county can be viewed at www.stat.ee/58604.

The 2011 Population and Housing Census is conducted from 31 December 2011 until 31 March 2012. Those who did not participate in the e-census will be visited by an enumerator in the period until 31 March 2012.