Study to collect data from households throughout SA has started

RESIDENTS can expect knocks on their doors from fieldworkers gathering data for the 2016 community survey.

This household survey will provide official statistics at a municipal level to enhance planning, monitoring and evaluation.

This is Statistics SA’s biggest undertaking after the national census which was last conducted in 2011.

About 1.3 million sampled households will be visited across the country from now until April 22.

The main objective of the community survey is to provide information on emerging trends with regards to demographic, socio-economic and social profiles of the population.

Participants will be asked questions related to their access to water, sanitation, housing, ownership of assets and household economic activity. It will also take into consideration respondents’ education levels and whether they have a disability.

Launching the survey in the Western Cape yesterday, Finance MEC Ivan Meyer said: “If we don’t measure these important variables, we don’t know how we are doing. Without adequate information about learning outcomes and households, etc, government planners cannot properly decide what actions are best to improve development outcomes.”

The first community survey, which was carried out in 2007, was not very robust at municipal level, because of its small sample size of only 275 000 dwellings, said Meyer.

Other than the national census, the community survey is the only survey that provides information at a municipal level.

For the first time, Stats SA fieldworkers will be using digital technology to collect the data, speeding up the turnaround of results, which are expected to be released by the end of June.