StatsSA officers back in the field

JUST more than a year after Stats SA suspended face-to-face data collection, the organisation’s survey officers have returned to the field.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said: “We are conducting field visits to ensure data integrity for household surveys amid Covid-19 restrictions. officers will go into the field every month to collect contact information from the households they will be contacting to participate in that month’s data collection,” he said.

The visits should be short because one person will answer questions for the whole household, Maluleke said.

Stats SA spokesperson Felicia Sithole said: “Today (Wednesday) is our second day of data collection. Once the contact details have been collected, the survey officers will work from home and do telephonic data collection.

“Households that have been selected to participate in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey will be contacted four times in the year; households that have been selected to participate in one of the other surveys, such as the general household survey, the domestic tourism survey, or our governance, public safety and justice surveys, will be contacted for completion of the questionnaire once.”

She said the officers would wear Stats SA-branded bibs and had been issued with Stats SA ID cards and letters that explainined the nature of the data collection.

Households can verify the legitimacy of the officer online at http:// www.statssa.gov.za/Fieldworkerverification/home.php, or contact the call centre at 0800 110248, or contact the nearest district office.