Statistical Clearing House

Tables

• Table 1: Reviews: Review Status, Respondent Load by Agency, 1999 (a)
• Table 2: Reviews: Review Status, by Type, 1999
• Table 3: Completed Reviews (a) - Approval Status, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999
• Table 4: Feedback received - Received Compliment, Received Complaint, Total Feedback Received, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999
• Table 5: Completed Reviews (a) - Respondent Load Reduced, Improvements Suggested, Improvements Made, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999
• Table 6: Average Elapsed Time for Review, Average Elapsed Time from Receipt of Complete Information for reviews completed, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999(a)
• Table 7: Collections Investigated, Found In Scope but Not to be Reviewed - ABS / Non-ABS, by Reason, 1999
• Figure 1: Number of Reviews Started, Completed (a) - progressively by Month, 1999

Introduction

This Report provides a summary of the number of surveys reviewed by the SCH during 1999 ie all surveys where the first version of the survey information template was received during the period 1 January to 31 December 1999 and all surveys where review action continued on from the previous year.

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In 1996, the Small Business Deregulation Task Force recommended that 'statistical collections affecting 50 or more businesses and run by, or on behalf of, all Commonwealth Government departments and agencies be subject to a central clearance process', that non-approved surveys not be permitted, and that approved surveys receive a registration number to be displayed on collection material. The report noted that clearance should not apply to statistics produced as by-products of administrative processes, and that it should be administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in view of its coordination role.

Cabinet endorsed the task force recommendations and in July 1997 the Statistical Clearing House (SCH) was formally initiated. In October 1997 the Prime Minister wrote to all Ministers informing them about the SCH and asking them to inform departments and agencies within their portfolios to comply with the clearance process. This was followed up by a letter and accompanying annex sent by the Australian Statistician to departmental heads on October 24 that provided details of SCH procedures. Clearance of surveys began in November 1997, beginning with all new surveys and the larger repeating ones.

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Since the last Agency Report, SCH staff have made several observations concerning the review process and have identified common problems amongst surveys that have been reviewed.

Timeliness In many cases, there was little time to conduct the review or to identify changes required for the survey before the questionnaire was printed or, worse still, was due in the field. Survey timetables often allow inadequate time for planning and development, to the detriment of likely survey outcomes.

Sample size SCH staff have found that sample sizes are rarely well justified.

Response rates Particularly in the case of smaller, one off surveys, there is a lack of understanding about the implications of low response rates and the effect of non-response bias.

Questionnaire testing SCH staff stress that the questionnaire should always be tested at least once prior to the main survey, even if only on a limited number of respondents, to ensure the questions are understood, and the required data is actually available.

Duplication The SCH are ensuring that the duplication between surveys is minimised.

Application for review The small number of surveys notified by some agencies is a cause of concern.

Use of Consultants SCH staff have found that when consultants are engaged to conduct a survey they are not always aware of the requirement to have the survey approved by the SCH (and it has not always been built into their contract to conduct the survey).

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General SCH Report

Table 1: Reviews: Review Status, Respondent Load by Agency, 1999 (a)

Agency (b)	Completed Reviews (c)	In Progress	Not Applicable (d)	Total	Estimated Load (hrs) (e)
AAA	-	-	1	1	-
ABARE	15	-	-	15	7669
ABS	57	2	8	67	201215
ACCC	-	-	1	1	-
AFC	1	-	-	1	35
AFFA	8	1	1	10	2860
AG	1	-	-	1	-
ANTA	6	1	-	7	2989
ATO	5	1	1	7	2281
Austrade	4	-	-	4	753
CITA	2	-	-	2	210
Defence	1	-	-	1	41
DETYA	3	1	1	5	275
DEWRSB	7	-	1	8	4647
DISR	4	-	2	6	430
FCS	1	-	2	3	539
HAC	2	1	-	3	250
HIC	2	-	-	2	434
HRDC	2	-	-	2	93
NOHSC	-	1	-	1	-
PC	1	-	1	2	113
Total	122	8	19	149	224834

(a) This table includes all surveys which the SCH reviewed during the period 1 January to 31 December 1999. It also includes surveys that were not in scope (for reasons such as: not a business survey, less than 50 business respondents, not a Commonwealth Government survey, administrative collection); or surveys that were in scope but not to be reviewed (for reasons such as: contractual obligation, product evaluation or missed).

(b) The acronyms for the agencies are explained in Appendix A. If an agency changed structure during the period of this report, all surveys that would now come under the agency's responsibility are included.

(c) The number of completed reviews includes surveys where review action was ceased or where review action was only partially completed after the review commenced (for reasons such as: surveys were cancelled, changed to out of scope, surveys that were conducted without SCH approval).

(d) Reviews that are classified as 'Not Applicable' include surveys that are not in scope (for reasons such as: not a business survey, less than 50 business respondents, not a Commonwealth Government survey, administrative collection); or surveys that are in scope but are not to be reviewed (for reasons such as: contractual obligation, product evaluation and missed).

(e) These figures indicate the estimated respondent load incurred by surveys which began SCH review during the period 1 January 1999 to 31 December 1999 only. The estimated load is based on completed reviews only, and is as estimated by the agency conducting the survey.

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General SCH Report

Table 2: Reviews: Review Status, by Type, 1999

Type	Completed Reviews (a)	In Progress	Not Applicable	Total
Large Repeated Public Interest Survey (b)	19	1	-	20
Small Repeated Public Interest Survey (c)	55	3	8	66
Once Only Public Interest Survey	19	2	4	25
Pilot Test or Post Enumeration Survey	2	0	1	3
Programme Evaluation	27	2	6	35
Total	122	8	19	149

(a) The number of completed reviews includes surveys where review action was ceased or where review action was only partially completed after the review commenced (for reasons such as: surveys were cancelled, changed to out of scope, surveys that were conducted without SCH approval).

(b) Large surveys are surveys which planned 2,000 or more respondents.

(c) Small surveys are surveys which planned fewer than 2,000 respondents.

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Table 3: Completed Reviews (a) - Approval Status, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999

	Approved	Not Approved	Other (b)	Total
ABS	54	-	3	57
Non-ABS	60	3	2	65
Total	114	3	5	122

(a) The number of completed reviews includes surveys where review action was ceased or where review action was only partially completed after the review commenced (for reasons such as: surveys were cancelled, changed to out of scope, surveys that were conducted without SCH approval).

(b) Note that for five surveys the reviews were completed but they were neither approved nor not approved. These surveys were either cancelled or changed to out of scope after the review had commenced.

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Table 4: Feedback received - Received Compliment, Received Complaint, Total Feedback Received, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999

	Received Compliment (a)	Received Complaint (a)	Total Feedback Received (b)
ABS	7	5	29
Non-ABS	11	8	30
Total	18	13	59

(a) The compliments and complaints are feedback received in writing.

(b) Feedback was received from survey managers for 59 of the surveys reviewed.

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Table 5: Completed Reviews (a) - Respondent Load Reduced, Improvements Suggested, Improvements Made, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999

	Respondent Load Reduced (b)	Improvements Suggested (c)	Improvements Made (c)	Total (d)
ABS	5	7	4	57
Non-ABS	6	19	16	65
Total	11	26	20	122

(a) The number of completed reviews includes surveys where review action was ceased or where review action was only partially completed after the review commenced (for reasons such as: surveys were cancelled, changed to out of scope, surveys that were conducted without SCH approval).

(b) This is the number of surveys where the sample or the survey content has been explicitly reduced by the clearance process. It does not include reductions in load from situations where questionnaire testing was implemented, leading to improved forms design, or reduction due to not approved or cancelled surveys.

(c) The quality improvements suggested include:
- changes to questionnaires
- changes to sample design methodology
- increasing follow-up procedures to improve response rates, and reducing initial sample sizes
- undertaking questionnaire testing
- addressing duplication with other surveys
- replacing census methodology with a sample survey

(d) Total number of surveys that have been reviewed in 1999.

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Table 6: Average Elapsed Time for Review, Average Elapsed Time from Receipt of Complete Information for reviews completed, by ABS / Non-ABS, 1999(a)

	Average Elapsed Time for Review (Calendar Days) (b)	Average Elapsed Time from Receipt of All Information to Approval Status Assignment (Calendar Days) (c)
ABS	48	2
Non-ABS	39	1
Total	43	2

(a) The time taken to review a survey officially starts from the date of receipt of all information (ie template fully completed) to when the approval status is granted. However, in practice the SCH commences review action from the date of receipt of the initial information template and works with survey managers to ensure that all the information required is provided and queries are resolved during this time. Hence by the time that the SCH has received all information, there is a relatively short turn around time. Note that "reviews completed" only includes those reviews which result in either an "Approved" or "Not approved" status.

(b) These figures are based on the average elapsed time from the receipt of the initial information template to the notification of approval. These figures include the time taken for survey managers to respond to requests for clarifying information.

(c) These figures are based on the average elapsed time from the receipt of the final and complete information template to the notification of approval.

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Table 7: Collections Investigated, Found In Scope but Not to be Reviewed - ABS / Non-ABS, by Reason, 1999

	ABS	Non-ABS	Total
Contractual Obligation	-	1	1
Product Evaluation	4	1	5
Other (a)	-	1	1
Total	4	3	7

(a) Special funding arrangements.

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Figure 1: Number of Reviews Started, Completed (a) - progressively by Month, 1999

Number of Reviews Started, Completed (a) - progressively by Month, 1999

(a) The number of completed reviews includes surveys where review action was ceased or where review action was only partially completed after the review commenced (for reasons such as: surveys were cancelled, changed to out of scope, surveys that were conducted without SCH approval).

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The Statistical Clearing House can be contacted by:
E-mail: statistical.clearing.house@abs.gov.au
Phone: (02) 6252 6812
Fax: (02) 6252 8008
Website

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ABARE	Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
ABS	Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACIDL	Australian Council for Infrastructure Development Limited
AFC	Australian Film Commission
AFFA	Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Department of)
AIHW	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
ASC	Australian Securities Commission
ATO	Australian Taxation Office
ATSIC	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
Austrade	Australian Trade Commission
CO	Commonwealth Ombudsman
CSIRO	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
DETYA	Education, Training and Youth Affairs (Department of)
DEWRSB	Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (Department of)
DFAT	Foreign Affairs and Trade (Department of)
DISR	Industry, Science and Resources (Department of)
FCS	Family and Community Services (Department of)
HAC	Health and Aged Care (Department of)
HIC	Health Insurance Commission
PC	Productivity Commission

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