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116-414: SDN's initial role in the industry is to organise activities for its members to interact. In 2006, SDU changed focus to accredit and fund private matchmaking and dating services agencies and projects. This was done in the hopes of creating a more vibrant dating scene and of allowing singles to have more options to interact with others of different educational levels. A census conducted in 1980 revealed that

232-660: A base-10 positional system. On May 25, 1577, King Philip II of Spain ordered by royal cédula the preparation of a general description of Spain's holdings in the Indies. Instructions and a questionnaire, issued in 1577 by the Office of the Cronista Mayor, were distributed to local officials in the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru to direct the gathering of information. The questionnaire, composed of fifty items,

348-544: A census for tax purposes, which was partially responsible for the development of the Zealot movement and several failed rebellions against Rome ultimately ending in the Jewish Diaspora . The Gospel of Luke makes reference to Quirinius' census in relation to the birth of Jesus ; based on variant readings of this passage, a minority of biblical scholars, including N. T. Wright , speculate that this passage refers to

464-408: A sampling frame such as an address register. Census counts are necessary to adjust samples to be representative of a population by weighting them as is common in opinion polling . Similarly, stratification requires knowledge of the relative sizes of different population strata, which can be derived from census enumerations. In some countries, the census provides the official counts used to apportion

580-412: A sampling frame to count the population. This is the only way to be sure that everyone has been included, as otherwise those not responding would not be followed up on and individuals could be missed. The fundamental premise of a census is that the population is not known, and a new estimate is to be made by the analysis of primary data. The use of a sampling frame is counterintuitive as it suggests that

696-533: A source language into one or more target languages, such as translating from English into Spanish and German. A team approach is recommended in the translation process to include translators, subject-matter experts and persons helpful to the process. Survey translation best practice includes parallel translation, team discussions, and pretesting with real-life people. It is not a mechanical word placement process. The model TRAPD - Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation - originally developed for

812-480: A "permanent" address, which might be a family home for students or long-term migrants. A precise definition of residence is needed, to decide whether visitors to a country should be included in the population count. This is becoming more important as students travel abroad for education for a period of several years. Other groups causing problems with enumeration are newborn babies, refugees, people away on holiday, people moving home around census day, and people without

928-477: A clan or tribe, or by a juridical person such as a corporation, cooperative, or government agency. The holding's land may consist of one or more parcels, located in one or more separate areas or one or more territorial or administrative divisions, providing the parcels share the same production means, such as labor, farm buildings, machinery or draught animals. Historical censuses used crude enumeration assuming absolute accuracy. Modern approaches take into account

1044-484: A defined territory, simultaneity and defined periodicity", and recommends that population censuses be taken at least every ten years. UN recommendations also cover census topics to be collected, official definitions, classifications, and other useful information to coordinate international practices. The UN 's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in turn, defines the census of agriculture as "a statistical operation for collecting, processing and disseminating data on

1160-415: A family home during vacations, or children whose parents have separated who effectively have two family homes. Census enumeration has always been based on finding people where they live, as there is no systematic alternative: any list used to find people is likely to be derived from census activities in the first place. Recent UN guidelines provide recommendations on enumerating such complex households. In

1276-510: A fishing analogy can be found in "Trout, Catfish and Roach..." which won an award from the Royal Statistical Society for excellence in official statistics in 2011. Triple system enumeration has been proposed as an improvement as it would allow evaluation of the statistical dependence of pairs of sources. However, as the matching process is the most difficult aspect of census estimation this has never been implemented for

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1392-414: A fixed address. People with second homes, because they are working in another part of the country or have a holiday cottage, are difficult to fix at a particular address; this sometimes causes double counting or houses being mistakenly identified as vacant. Another problem is where people use a different address at different times e.g. students living at their place of education in term time but returning to

1508-409: A fixed level of quality. Survey methodology is both a scientific field and a profession, meaning that some professionals in the field focus on survey errors empirically and others design surveys to reduce them. For survey designers, the task involves making a large set of decisions about thousands of individual features of a survey in order to improve it. The most important methodological challenges of

1624-500: A large city, it might be appropriate to give the average income for black males aged between 50 and 60. However, doing this for a town that only has two black males in this age group would be a breach of privacy because either of those persons, knowing his own income and the reported average, could determine the other man's income. Typically, census data are processed to obscure such individual information. Some agencies do this by intentionally introducing small statistical errors to prevent

1740-477: A large number of highly educated women were still unmarried, despite being above 40 years of age. It was also noted that there was an inverse relationship between a person's educational level and the number of children he/she had. Dr Tony Tan—then Minister of Finance and Trade and Industry—attributed this finding to 2 factors: firstly, the cultural attitude among local men, who preferred to marry women with lower educational qualifications than themselves; and secondly,

1856-421: A measure is the degree to which it measures the theoretical construct that it was originally supposed to measure. Six steps can be employed to construct a questionnaire that will produce reliable and valid results. First, one must decide what kind of information should be collected. Second, one must decide how to conduct the questionnaire. Thirdly, one must construct a first draft of the questionnaire. Fourth,

1972-469: A national enumeration. It would also be difficult to identify three different sources that were sufficiently different to make the triple system effort worthwhile. The DSE approach has another weakness in that it assumes there is no person counted twice (over count). In de facto residence definitions this would not be a problem but in de jure definitions individuals risk being recorded on more than one form leading to double counting. A particular problem here

2088-433: A population and housing census – numbers of people, their distribution, their living conditions and other key data – is critical for development." This is because this type of data is essential for policymakers so that they know where to invest. Many countries have outdated or inaccurate data about their populations and thus have difficulty in addressing the needs of the population. The UNFPA said: "The unique advantage of

2204-485: A population, but not changes within individuals because the same individuals are not surveyed more than once. Such studies cannot, therefore, identify the causes of change over time necessarily. For successive independent samples designs to be effective, the samples must be drawn from the same population, and must be equally representative of it. If the samples are not comparable, the changes between samples may be due to demographic characteristics rather than time. In addition,

2320-560: A population, not just the number of individuals. Censuses typically began as the only method of collecting national demographic data and are now part of a larger system of different surveys. Although population estimates remain an important function of a census, including exactly the geographic distribution of the population or the agricultural population, statistics can be produced about combinations of attributes, e.g., education by age and sex in different regions. Current administrative data systems allow for other approaches to enumeration with

2436-453: A questionnaire: free response questions and closed questions. Free response questions are open-ended, whereas closed questions are usually multiple choice. Free response questions are beneficial because they allow the responder greater flexibility, but they are also very difficult to record and score, requiring extensive coding. Contrastingly, closed questions can be scored and coded more easily, but they diminish expressivity and spontaneity of

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2552-460: A realist approach to measurement, acknowledging that under any definition of residence there is a true value of the population but this can never be measured with complete accuracy. An important aspect of the census process is to evaluate the quality of the data. Many countries use a post-enumeration survey to adjust the raw census counts. This works similarly to capture-recapture estimation for animal populations. Among census experts, this method

2668-510: A representative sample. One common error that results is selection bias . Selection bias results when the procedures used to select a sample result in over representation or under representation of some significant aspect of the population. For instance, if the population of interest consists of 75% females, and 25% males, and the sample consists of 40% females and 60% males, females are under represented while males are overrepresented. In order to minimize selection biases, stratified random sampling

2784-399: A response scale afterwards, or analysed using more qualitative methods. Survey researchers should carefully construct the order of questions in a questionnaire. For questionnaires that are self-administered, the most interesting questions should be at the beginning of the questionnaire to catch the respondent's attention, while demographic questions should be near the end. Contrastingly, if

2900-436: A sample (or samples) is drawn from the relevant population and studied once. A cross-sectional study describes characteristics of that population at one time, but cannot give any insight as to the causes of population characteristics because it is a predictive, correlational design. A successive independent samples design draws multiple random samples from a population at one or more times. This design can study changes within

3016-738: A school system (see also sampling (statistics) and survey sampling ). The persons replying to a survey are called respondents , and depending on the questions asked their answers may represent themselves as individuals, their households, employers, or other organization they represent. Survey methodology as a scientific field seeks to identify principles about the sample design, data collection instruments, statistical adjustment of data, and data processing, and final data analysis that can create systematic and random survey errors. Survey errors are sometimes analyzed in connection with survey cost. Cost constraints are sometimes framed as improving quality within cost constraints, or alternatively, reducing costs for

3132-704: A separate registration conducted during the reign of Herod the Great , several years before Quirinius' census. The 15-year indiction cycle established by Diocletian in AD   297 was based on quindecennial censuses and formed the basis for dating in late antiquity and under the Byzantine Empire . In the Middle Ages , the Caliphate began conducting regular censuses soon after its formation, beginning with

3248-465: A survey is being administered over the telephone or in person, demographic questions should be administered at the beginning of the interview to boost the respondent's confidence. Another reason to be mindful of question order may cause a survey response effect in which one question may affect how people respond to subsequent questions as a result of priming . Translation is crucial to collecting comparable survey data. Questionnaires are translated from

3364-469: A survey methodologist include making decisions on how to: The sample is chosen from the sampling frame, which consists of a list of all members of the population of interest. The goal of a survey is not to describe the sample, but the larger population. This generalizing ability is dependent on the representativeness of the sample, as stated above. Each member of the population is termed an element. There are frequent difficulties one encounters while choosing

3480-406: Is social desirability bias : survey participants may attempt to project a positive self-image in an effort to conform to the norms they attribute to the interviewer asking questions. Interviewer effects are one example survey response effects . Since 2018, survey methodologists have started to examine how big data can complement survey methodology to allow researchers and practitioners to improve

3596-416: Is almost always based on a sample of the population, the success of the research is dependent on the representativeness of the sample with respect to a target population of interest to the researcher. That target population can range from the general population of a given country to specific groups of people within that country, to a membership list of a professional organization, or list of students enrolled in

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3712-453: Is called dual system enumeration (DSE). A sample of households is visited by interviewers who record the details of the household as of census day. These data are then matched to census records, and the number of people missed can be estimated by considering the number of people who are included in one count but not the other. This allows adjustments to the count for non-response, varying between different demographic groups. An explanation using

3828-401: Is important in considering individuals who have multiple or temporary addresses. Every person should be identified uniquely as a resident in one place; but the place where they happen to be on Census Day, their de facto residence , may not be the best place to count them. Where an individual uses services may be more useful, and this is at their usual residence. An individual may be recorded at

3944-469: Is interested; researchers in particular have an interest in the role of Census Field Officers (CFO) and their assistants. Data can be represented visually or analysed in complex statistical models, to show the difference between certain areas, or to understand the association between different personal characteristics. Census data offer a unique insight into small areas and small demographic groups which sample data would be unable to capture with precision. In

4060-494: Is made of at least a sample (or full population in the case of a census), a method of data collection (e.g., a questionnaire) and individual questions or items that become data that can be analyzed statistically. A single survey may focus on different types of topics such as preferences (e.g., for a presidential candidate), opinions (e.g., should abortion be legal?), behavior (smoking and alcohol use), or factual information (e.g., income), depending on its purpose. Since survey research

4176-714: Is named after the counting of the Israelite population according to the house of the Fathers after the exodus from Egypt. A second census was taken while the Israelites were camped in the " plains of Moab ". King David performed a census that produced disastrous results. His son, King Solomon , had all of the foreigners in Israel counted. One of the world's earliest preserved censuses was held in China in AD   2 during

4292-538: Is not known if there are any residents or how many people there are in each household. Depending on the mode of enumeration, a form is sent to the householder, an enumerator calls, or administrative records for the dwelling are accessed. As a preliminary to the dispatch of forms, census workers will check for any address problems on the ground. While it may seem straightforward to use the postal service file for this purpose, this can be out of date and some dwellings may contain several independent households. A particular problem

4408-764: Is often used. This is when the population is divided into sub-populations called strata, and random samples are drawn from each of the strata, or elements are drawn for the sample on a proportional basis. There are several ways of administering a survey. The choice between administration modes is influenced by several factors, including Different methods create mode effects that change how respondents answer, and different methods have different advantages. The most common modes of administration can be summarized as: There are several different designs, or overall structures, that can be used in survey research. The three general types are cross-sectional, successive independent samples, and longitudinal studies. In cross-sectional studies,

4524-423: Is still conducted in a similar way to the post-enumeration survey employed in a traditional census. Other countries that have a population register use this as a basis for all the census statistics needed by users. This is most common among Nordic countries but requires many distinct registers to be combined, including population, housing, employment, and education. These registers are then combined and brought up to

4640-415: Is students who often have a term time and family address. Several countries have used a system known as short form/long form. This is a sampling strategy that randomly chooses a proportion of people to send a more detailed questionnaire to (the long form). Everyone receives the short-form questions. This means more data are collected, but without imposing a burden on the whole population. This also reduces

4756-491: Is typically collected about the household structure and the housing. For this reason, international documents refer to censuses of population and housing. Normally the census response is made by a household, indicating details of individuals resident there. An important aspect of census enumerations is determining which individuals can be counted and which cannot be counted. Broadly, three definitions can be used: de facto residence; de jure residence; and permanent residence. This

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4872-416: Is what is termed " communal establishments ", a category that includes student residences, religious orders, homes for the elderly, people in prisons, etc. As these are not easily enumerated by a single householder, they are often treated differently and visited by special teams of census workers to ensure they are classified appropriately. Individuals are normally counted within households , and information

4988-492: The European Social Surveys , is now "widely used in the global survey research community, although not always labeled as such or implemented in its complete form". For example, sociolinguistics provides a theoretical framework for questionnaire translation and complements TRAPD. This approach states that for the questionnaire translation to achieve the equivalent communicative effect as the source language,

5104-553: The Han dynasty , and is still considered by scholars to be quite accurate. The population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households but on this occasion only taxable families had been taken into account, indicating the income and the number of soldiers who could be mobilized. Another census was held in AD   144. The oldest recorded census in India is thought to have occurred around 330   BC during

5220-534: The Social Development Service ( SDS ) was set up a year after the SDU to promote marriages among non-graduates. On 28 January 2009, the SDU and SDS merged to become a single entity, tentatively named SDU-SDS, consolidating their respective resources and exposing their constituent members to the larger, merged database. It was renamed as Social Development Network or SDN on 16 October 2009. Prior to

5336-692: The nomarch , "whence he gained his living". Under the Ptolemies and the Romans several censuses were conducted in Egypt by government officials. There are several accounts of ancient Greek city states carrying out censuses. Censuses are mentioned several times in the Biblical narrative. God commands a per capita tax to be paid with the census for the upkeep of the Tabernacle . The Book of Numbers

5452-437: The population size is already known. However, a census is also used to collect attribute data on the individuals in the nation, not only to assess population size. This process of sampling marks the difference between a historical census, which was a house-to-house process or the product of an imperial decree, and the modern statistical project. The sampling frame used by a census is almost always an address register. Thus, it

5568-442: The sampling of individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey data collection , such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and accuracy of responses to surveys. Survey methodology targets instruments or procedures that ask one or more questions that may or may not be answered. Researchers carry out statistical surveys with a view towards making statistical inferences about

5684-412: The 19th and 20th centuries collected paper documents which had to be collated by hand, so the statistical information obtained was quite basic. The government that owned the data could publish statistics on the state of the nation. The results were used to measure changes in the population and apportion representation. Population estimates could be compared to those of other countries. By the beginning of

5800-437: The 20th century, censuses were recording households and some indications of their employment. In some countries, census archives are released for public examination after many decades, allowing genealogists to track the ancestry of interested people. Archives provide a substantial historical record which may challenge established views. Information such as job titles and arrangements for the destitute and sick may also shed light on

5916-513: The SDU from time to time to assess the effectiveness of the SDU, and its public education objective in particular. In mid 2006, 2,041 university undergraduates and polytechnic students were polled in an SDU survey on undergraduates' attitudes towards social interaction, dating and marriage. The data, which was collected during a series of face-to-face interviews, showed that, while nine out of ten would like to get married, only 35 per cent of them were certain about their intentions. Earlier in

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6032-618: The Social Development Officers (SDO) Network to provide small interaction activities for single employees in the civil service, SDN also partners selected commercial and community organisations to facilitate larger-scale events for singles. When SDU was first started, membership was free of charge and valid until the member registered his/her marriage, either at the Registry or under the Muslim law . Members paid only for

6148-730: The Survey on Singles' Attitudes towards Courtship and Marriage conducted by the Social Development Network (SDN) in 2009, about 80% of more than 1500 singles surveyed indicated their intention to get married. However, respondents also cited "not finding the right one or someone who met my expectations" as the top key reason for delaying marriage. Other top reasons cited included "not enough opportunities to socialize" and "lack of time" as career and other commitments were viewed as more/equally important, or as milestones to be achieved in life before they would think about marriage. In

6264-534: The Travel category and the length of tours ranges from one day to 18 days, catering to different budgets and interests. SDU members are entitled to a subsidised rate for most activities, regardless of the nature of the event. Since 2009, SDN has been working with different partners from the people, private and public sectors to create a broad array of opportunities for singles to meet and form meaningful relationships. Apart from collaborating with Government agencies under

6380-463: The UK, all census formats are scanned and stored electronically before being destroyed, replacing the need for physical archives. The record linking to perform an administrative census would not be possible without large databases being stored on computer systems. There are sometimes problems in introducing new technology. The US census had been intended to use handheld computers, but cost escalated, and this

6496-427: The activities they registered for and even then, the costs were subsidised by the government. Many revisions have since been made to the various membership schemes, including an annual membership fee. From October 2009, all membership schemes were removed and SDN extended its benefits to all resident singles without any fees. Currently, singles aged 20 and above who are Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents can join

6612-486: The approach used, the ability to match some portion of the sample can be lost. In addition, the overall attrition of participants is not random, so samples can become less representative with successive assessments. To account for this, a researcher can compare the respondents who left the survey to those that did not, to see if they are statistically different populations. Respondents may also try to be self-consistent in spite of changes to survey answers. Questionnaires are

6728-493: The beginning, activities that the former SDU organised included personal-effectiveness workshops, computer courses, barbecues, dancing lessons, cruises/tours to the Maldives, Club Mediterrannee and Japan. SDU's policy then was that part of the fees for courses would be sponsored by the unit, while the full costs had to be borne by participants for cruises. However, it was discovered that the costs of cruises were significantly below

6844-417: The burden on the statistical office. Indeed, in the UK until 2001 all residents were required to fill in the whole form but only a 10% sample was coded and analysed in detail. New technology means that all data are now scanned and processed. During the 2011 Canadian census there was controversy about the cessation of the mandatory long-form census; the head of Statistics Canada , Munir Sheikh , resigned upon

6960-438: The census is also an important tool for identifying forms of social, demographic or economic exclusions, such as inequalities relating to race, ethics, and religion as well as disadvantaged groups such as those with disabilities and the poor. An accurate census can empower local communities by providing them with the necessary information to participate in local decision-making and ensuring they are represented. The importance of

7076-536: The census is that it represents the entire statistical universe, down to the smallest geographical units, of a country or region. Planners need this information for all kinds of development work, including: assessing demographic trends; analysing socio-economic conditions; designing evidence-based poverty-reduction strategies; monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of policies; and tracking progress toward national and internationally agreed development goals." In addition to making policymakers aware of population issues,

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7192-443: The census of agriculture , data is collected at the agricultural holding unit. An agricultural holding is an economic unit of agricultural production under single management comprising all livestock kept and all land used wholly or partly for agricultural production purposes, without regard to title, legal form, or size. Single management may be exercised by an individual or household, jointly by two or more individuals or households, by

7308-474: The census of agriculture for development is that it gives a snapshot of the structure of the agricultural sector in a country and, when compared with previous censuses, provides an opportunity to identify trends and structural transformations of the sector, and points towards areas for policy intervention. Census data are used as a benchmark for current statistics and their value is increased when they are employed together with other data sources. Early censuses in

7424-563: The census of agriculture, users need census data to: Although the census provides useful statistical information about a population, the availability of this information could sometimes lead to abuses, political or otherwise, by the linking of individuals' identities to anonymous census data. This is particularly important when individuals' census responses are made available in microdata form, but even aggregate-level data can result in privacy breaches when dealing with small areas and/or rare subpopulations. For instance, when reporting data from

7540-575: The central government. Differing release strategies of governments have led to an international project ( IPUMS ) to co-ordinate access to microdata and corresponding metadata. Such projects such as SDMX also promote standardising metadata, so that best use can be made of the minimal data available. Censuses in Egypt first appeared in the late Middle Kingdom and developed in the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amasis , according to Herodotus , required every Egyptian to declare annually to

7656-523: The characteristics of the people surveyed in the sample. Demographic variables include such measures as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, race, and age. Surveys often assess the preferences and attitudes of individuals, and many employ self-report scales to measure people's opinions and judgements about different items presented on a scale. Self-report scales are also used to examine the disparities among people on scale items. These self-report scales, which are usually presented in questionnaire form, are one of

7772-520: The combination of data from registers, surveys and other sources. Censuses have evolved in their use of technology: censuses in 2010 used many new types of computing. In Brazil, handheld devices were used by enumerators to locate residences on the ground. In many countries, census returns could be made via the Internet as well as in paper form. DSE is facilitated by computer matching techniques that can be automated, such as propensity score matching . In

7888-407: The dearth of children produced by graduate women would lead to the faltering of the economy and ultimately a decline in society. Although Lee had not explicitly stated that the SDU would be set up in response this problem, he had promised that tough measures would be taken by the government to curb the problem. The fact that the SDU was formed the following year has led many to perceive the debate to be

8004-406: The differences in respondents' experiences. Longitudinal studies are the easiest way to assess the effect of a naturally occurring event, such as divorce that cannot be tested experimentally. However, longitudinal studies are both expensive and difficult to do. It is harder to find a sample that will commit to a months- or years-long study than a 15-minute interview, and participants frequently leave

8120-480: The end of long surveys. Some researchers have also discussed the recipient's role or profession as a potential factor affecting how nonresponse is managed. For example, faxes are not commonly used to distribute surveys, but in a recent study were sometimes preferred by pharmacists, since they frequently receive faxed prescriptions at work but may not always have access to a generally-addressed piece of mail. Survey methodologists have devoted much effort to determining

8236-860: The extent to which interviewee responses are affected by physical characteristics of the interviewer. Main interviewer traits that have been demonstrated to influence survey responses are race, gender, and relative body weight (BMI). These interviewer effects are particularly operant when questions are related to the interviewer trait. Hence, race of interviewer has been shown to affect responses to measures regarding racial attitudes, interviewer sex responses to questions involving gender issues, and interviewer BMI answers to eating and dieting-related questions. While interviewer effects have been investigated mainly for face-to-face surveys, they have also been shown to exist for interview modes with no visual contact, such as telephone surveys and in video-enhanced web surveys. The explanation typically provided for interviewer effects

8352-418: The factor being measured has greater variability among the individuals in the sample that are being tested. Finally, there will be greater reliability when instructions for the completion of the questionnaire are clear and when there are limited distractions in the testing environment. Contrastingly, a questionnaire is valid if what it measures is what it had originally planned to measure. Construct validity of

8468-548: The federal government's decision to do so. The use of alternative enumeration strategies is increasing but these are not as simple as many people assume and are only used in developed countries. The Netherlands has been most advanced in adopting a census using administrative data . This allows a simulated census to be conducted by linking several different administrative databases at an agreed time. Data can be matched, and an overall enumeration established allowing for discrepancies between different data sources. A validation survey

8584-556: The first 2 decades since the SDU was first set up, SDU reported that more than 33,000 members were married ( This includes Singaporeans who would have married irrespective of SDU ). Despite the promising numbers reported by SDU, statistics at the national level do not mirror the trends within the SDU. According to the Singapore Department of Statistics, there was only a slight increase in marriages from 22,561 in year 2000 to 22,992 in year 2005. In fact, for those aged 30–34,

8700-544: The following two conditions: The amount of funding that is provided depends on several factors, such as gender balance (the bare minimum being 60–40%), the originality of the programme, the degree of reach as well as the extent to which participants will benefit from the social interaction. As of 30 March 2007, the SDN had funded a total of about $ 275,000 worth of social activities. Through Project Network, SDN has helped to co-fund orientation camps and student activities organised by

8816-423: The form of conditional distributions ( histograms ) can be derived interactively from the estimated mixture model without any further access to the original database. As the final product does not contain any protected microdata, the model-based interactive software can be distributed without any confidentiality concerns. Another method is simply to release no data at all, except very large scale data directly to

8932-514: The founding of the SDU, a "Great Marriage Debate" had been raging. During a speech made at the National Day rally in 1983, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew alleged that the phenomenon of graduates remaining single would result in a projected loss of about 400 talented people per year. This estimation was made on the basis that talent was not so much nurtured as it was conceived, as studies at that time had shown. Lee had also expressed worry that

9048-792: The historical structure of society. Political considerations influence the census in many countries. In Canada in 2010 for example, the government under the leadership of Stephen Harper abolished the mandatory long-form census. This abolition was a response to protests from some Canadians who resented the personal questions. The long-form census was reinstated by the Justin Trudeau government in 2016. As governments assumed responsibility for schooling and welfare, large government research departments made extensive use of census data. Population projections could be made, to help plan for provision in local government and regions. Central government could also use census data to allocate funding. Even in

9164-466: The identification of individuals in marginal populations; others swap variables for similar respondents. Whatever is done to reduce the privacy risk, new improved electronic analysis of data can threaten to reveal sensitive individual information. This is known as statistical disclosure control . Another possibility is to present survey results by means of statistical models in the form of a multivariate distribution mixture. The statistical information in

9280-511: The internet. It is also possible that the hidden nature of an administrative census means that users are not engaged with the importance of contributing their data to official statistics. Alternatively, population estimations may be carried out remotely with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing technologies. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), "The information generated by

9396-448: The local universities to facilitate more gender-balanced social interaction opportunities on campus. Official student bodies may apply for the fund if they meet the criteria of the funding scheme, such as balanced gender ratio, meaningful interaction among opposite genders, etc. Census A census (from Latin censere , 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about

9512-401: The main reason behind the establishment of the unit and its exclusive focus. Public reaction to the former SDU was initially that of disdain; graduate women were unhappy about their plight being addressed so prominently, while non-graduate women and their parents were upset at the government for dissuading graduate men from marrying them. In fact, there was an outcry by the public at large about

9628-660: The market rates and that participants were granted leave by their companies for the duration of the cruise. Types of activities offered by SDU range from dating, wine & dine, self-enrichment, sports & recreation to travel and more. The range of activities offered has become much more extensive over the years. Self-enrichment activities consist mostly of dance lessons, though these span from Hip Hop to Exotic Dance to Ballroom Waltz . Other self-enrichment courses include wine appreciation, Pilates and baking classes. Overseas trips to many parts of Asia (such as China , Thailand , Malaysia , Vietnam and Nepal ) are offered under

9744-429: The members of a given population , usually displayed in the form of statistics. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses ; other common censuses include censuses of agriculture , traditional culture, business, supplies, and traffic censuses. The United Nations (UN) defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as "individual enumeration, universality within

9860-524: The mid 20th century, census data was only directly accessible to large government departments. However, computers meant that tabulations could be used directly by university researchers, large businesses and local government offices. They could use the detail of the data to answer new questions and add to local and specialist knowledge. Nowadays, census data are published in a wide variety of formats to be accessible to business, all levels of government, media, students and teachers, charities, and any citizen who

9976-441: The most commonly used tool in survey research. However, the results of a particular survey are worthless if the questionnaire is written inadequately. Questionnaires should produce valid and reliable demographic variable measures and should yield valid and reliable individual disparities that self-report scales generate. A variable category that is often measured in survey research are demographic variables, which are used to depict

10092-458: The most used instruments in psychology, and thus it is important that the measures be constructed carefully, while also being reliable and valid. Reliable measures of self-report are defined by their consistency. Thus, a reliable self-report measure produces consistent results every time it is executed. A test's reliability can be measured a few ways. First, one can calculate a test-retest reliability. A test-retest reliability entails conducting

10208-563: The network's database to receive communications and information on dating, or register as a user to enjoy its online services, such as the chat function, forum discussion and personal ads, or to access information on events and other resources on dating and relationship. Project Network is an initiative that was started by the SDN in 2003 to provide funding for programmes helmed by local universities that promote social skills or provide socialisation opportunities for undergraduates. In order for projects to qualify for funding, they must satisfy one of

10324-403: The number of elected representatives to regions (sometimes controversially – e.g., Utah v. Evans ). In many cases, a carefully chosen random sample can provide more accurate information than attempts to get a population census. A census is often construed as the opposite of a sample as it intends to count everyone in a population, rather than a fraction. However, population censuses do rely on

10440-497: The one ordered by the second Rashidun caliph , Umar . The Domesday Book was undertaken in AD   1086 by William I of England so that he could properly tax the land he had recently conquered. In 1183, a census was taken of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem , to ascertain the number of men and amount of money that could possibly be raised against an invasion by Saladin , sultan of Egypt and Syria . The first national census of France ( L'État des paroisses et des feux )

10556-688: The population being studied; such inferences depend strongly on the survey questions used. Polls about public opinion , public-health surveys, market-research surveys, government surveys and censuses all exemplify quantitative research that uses survey methodology to answer questions about a population. Although censuses do not include a "sample", they do include other aspects of survey methodology, like questionnaires, interviewers, and non-response follow-up techniques. Surveys provide important information for all kinds of public-information and research fields, such as marketing research, psychology , health-care provision and sociology . A single survey

10672-480: The preference among female university graduates to marry men who were better educated or at least of the same educational level as themselves. The SDU was thus formed in January 1984 to provide opportunities for single men and women to interact socially. Another objective of the unit was to encourage public discussion about the perceived problem of the large number of better-educated women remaining unmarried. Since it

10788-554: The problems of overcount and undercount and the coherence of census enumerations with other official sources of data. For instance, during the 2020 U.S. Census, the Census Bureau counted people primarily by collecting answers sent by mail, on the internet, over the phone, or using shared information through proxies. These methods accounted for 95.5 percent of all occupied housing units in the United States. This reflects

10904-403: The production of survey statistics and its quality. Big data has low cost per data point, applies analysis techniques via machine learning and data mining , and includes diverse and new data sources, e.g., registers, social media, apps, and other forms digital data. There have been three Big Data Meets Survey Science (BigSurv) conferences in 2018, 2020, 2023, and a conference forthcoming in 2025,

11020-466: The proportion remaining single had increased significantly between 2000 and 2005, as more people chose to delay marriage. In 2005, among citizens aged 30–34, the proportion that was single was 37 per cent for males and 26 per cent for females. As for those in the age range of 40–44, the proportion single at 2005 remained high at 15–17 per cent for males and females collectively. The number of marriages has steadily increased over

11136-647: The questionnaire should be revised. Next, the questionnaire should be pretested. Finally, the questionnaire should be edited and the procedures for its use should be specified. The way that a question is phrased can have a large impact on how a research participant will answer the question. Thus, survey researchers must be conscious of their wording when writing survey questions. It is important for researchers to keep in mind that different individuals, cultures, and subcultures can interpret certain words and phrases differently from one another. There are two different types of questions that survey researchers use when writing

11252-413: The questions must be asked in the same way so that responses can be compared directly. Longitudinal studies take measure of the same random sample at multiple time points. Unlike with a successive independent samples design, this design measures the differences in individual participants' responses over time. This means that a researcher can potentially assess the reasons for response changes by assessing

11368-506: The reign of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya under the leadership of Chanakya and Ashoka . The English term is taken directly from the Latin census , from censere ("to estimate"). The census played a crucial role in the administration of the Roman government, as it was used to determine the class a citizen belonged to for both military and tax purposes. Beginning in the middle republic, it

11484-471: The responder. In general, the vocabulary of the questions should be very simple and direct, and most should be less than twenty words. Each question should be edited for "readability" and should avoid leading or loaded questions. Finally, if multiple items are being used to measure one construct, the wording of some of the items should be worded in the opposite direction to evade response bias. A respondent's answer to an open-ended question can be coded into

11600-443: The same level of detail but raise concerns about privacy and the possibility of biasing estimates. A census can be contrasted with sampling in which information is obtained only from a subset of a population; typically, main population estimates are updated by such intercensal estimates . Modern census data are commonly used for research, business marketing , and planning, and as a baseline for designing sample surveys by providing

11716-443: The same questionnaire to a large sample at two different times. For the questionnaire to be considered reliable, people in the sample do not have to score identically on each test, but rather their position in the score distribution should be similar for both the test and the retest. Self-report measures will generally be more reliable when they have many items measuring a construct. Furthermore, measurements will be more reliable when

11832-413: The same year, SDU had conducted another survey which assessed attitudes of singles in general towards courtship and marriage. The survey, which included a variety of age groups, showed that 81 per cent of the 1,800 respondents indicated that they would like to get married. Yet, 74 per cent of the singles also mentioned that achieving success in work and studies was their top priority. In

11948-534: The standard of a statistical register by comparing the data from different sources and ensuring the quality is sufficient for official statistics to be produced. A recent innovation is the French instigation of a rolling census program with different regions enumerated each year so that the whole country is completely enumerated every 5 to 10 years. In Europe, in connection with the 2010 census round, many countries adopted alternative census methodologies, often based on

12064-486: The structure of agriculture, covering the whole or a significant part of a country." "In a census of agriculture, data are collected at the holding level." The word is of Latin origin: during the Roman Republic , the census was a list of all adult males fit for military service. The modern census is essential to international comparisons of any type of statistics, and censuses collect data on many attributes of

12180-591: The study before the final assessment. In addition, such studies sometimes require data collection to be confidential or anonymous, which creates additional difficulty in linking participants' responses over time. One potential solution is the use of a self-generated identification code (SGIC). These codes usually are created from elements like 'month of birth' and 'first letter of the mother's middle name.' Some recent anonymous SGIC approaches have also attempted to minimize use of personalized data even further, instead using questions like 'name of your first pet. Depending on

12296-430: The third by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Dieterici in 1859. In 1931, Walter Willcox published a table in his book, International Migrations: Volume II Interpretations , that estimated the 1929 world population to be roughly 1.8 billion. Statistical survey Survey methodology is "the study of survey methods". As a field of applied statistics concentrating on human-research surveys , survey methodology studies

12412-450: The time. However, marriage figures began to increase from there. Between March and July 1985, another 4 couples were married. Since then, the number of SDU marriages has increased over the years. By the end of the first decade, the number of marriages as a result of SDU activities averaged about 1,000 a year. In 2003, SDU reported a significant increase in marriage figures for its members over the years, from 2,789 in 1999 to 4,050 in 2003. Over

12528-738: The translation must be linguistically appropriate while incorporating the social practices and cultural norms of the target language. The following ways have been recommended for reducing nonresponse in telephone and face-to-face surveys: Brevity is also often cited as increasing response rate. A 1996 literature review found mixed evidence to support this claim for both written and verbal surveys, concluding that other factors may often be more important. A 2010 study looking at 100,000 online surveys found response rate dropped by about 3% at 10 questions and about 6% at 20 questions, with drop-off slowing (for example, only 10% reduction at 40 questions). Other studies showed that quality of response degraded toward

12644-418: The unfair use of taxpayers' money to subsidise leisure activities for graduates, especially since they already had a higher income. Some were also displeased about the fact that civil servants who were single were given three extra days of leave to go on SDU-organised cruises. Besides those who treated the SDU with contempt, there were others who simply did not take the SDU seriously. One popular joke that

12760-409: The years from 2004 (22,189) to 2009 (26,081) and crude marriage rate (per 1000 resident population) has been on the rise from 6.4 in 2007 to 6.6 in 2009. However, more singles are also marrying later. The mean age for first marriage has increased from 28.7 to 29.8 (males) and 26.2 to 27.5 (females) over the last 10 years. In addition to marriage and membership statistics, surveys are also conducted by

12876-443: Was abandoned, with the contract being sold to Brazil. The online response has some advantages, but one of the functions of the census is to make sure everyone is counted accurately. A system that allowed people to enter their address without verification would be open to abuse. Therefore, households have to be verified on the ground, typically by an enumerator visit or post out . Paper forms are still necessary for those without access to

12992-463: Was conceived in the early days was that 'SDU' also stood for 'Single, Desperate and Ugly'. Results in the beginning were slow and the effectiveness of the SDU was questioned by both the public and members of parliament . From the time it was established in January 1984 to March 1985, only 2 marriages had taken place as a result of the SDU's efforts. This was not proportionate to the amount that SDU had spent on its activities, which came to $ 294,411.32 at

13108-533: Was designed to elicit basic information about the nature of the land and the life of its peoples. The replies, known as " relaciones geográficas ", were written between 1579 and 1585 and were returned to the Cronista Mayor in Spain by the Council of the Indies. The earliest estimate of the world population was made by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1661; the next by Johann Peter Süssmilch in 1741, revised in 1762;

13224-402: Was first established, SDU's target group was limited to university graduates. The government justified this elitist approach by announcing that they had identified graduates—and in particular the females among them—as a group which required assistance in terms of finding lifelong partners. According to the government, non-graduates did not seem to have any difficulty in finding partners. However,

13340-524: Was undertaken in 1328, mostly for fiscal purposes. It estimated the French population at 16 to 17 million. In the 15th century, the Inca Empire had a unique way to record census information. The Incas did not have any written language but recorded information collected during censuses and other numeric information as well as non-numeric data on quipus , strings from llama or alpaca hair or cotton cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in

13456-493: Was usually carried out every five years. It provided a register of citizens and their property from which their duties and privileges could be listed. It is said to have been instituted by the Roman king Servius Tullius in the 6th century BC, at which time the number of arms-bearing citizens was supposedly counted at around 80,000. When the Romans conquered Judea in AD   6, the legate Publius Sulpicius Quirinius organized

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