What Do We Need to Know?
Griffith Feeney
Objective To systematically identify what information is required to do a good job of planning the content of the census, that is, the content of the questionnaire and the various data products to be produced from the census. To learn to appreciate the importance of information that exists only outside the organization. To learn the importance of anticipating future developments in and diffusion of information technology.
Step 1 The task here is not to say what census content should be, but what we need to know to decide what it should be. Begin with a simple listing of the (more or less) obvious, such as the questionnaire and tabulation plan of the preceding census, the United Nations Principles and Recommendations, suggestions from users, and so on. Continue on as far as your knowledge and imagination will take you.
Step 2 Some content should not be included in the census because it is available from other sources. Planning census content thus requires knowing what other information sources are available. Identify the most important of these and note their key characteristics, type (survey, register, administrative records), content, frequency, sample size and type, and so on.
Step 3 Numerous census questions involved codes that occur elsewhere as well, in other countries, or in other data collection operations in your country. Unless there is a specific rationale for differences, there should be an attempt to use the same codes in different operations, and to conform to international standards to the extend appropriate to the national situation. List the various national and international sources of information on standard codes.
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