Statistical Clearing House (SCH) Glossary
Business
A business is defined to be equivalent to an enterprise under the New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999. This includes, private hospitals, private schools, charities and organisations designated under law as not for profit.
Collection
See Survey.
Australian Government Agencies
Australian Government Agencies are those agencies listed as receiving Australian Government budget funding, excluding Australian Government owned corporations.
Conducted by or on behalf
A survey is considered to be conducted by or on behalf of an agency, if that agency:
- conducts the survey; or
- manages the contract for the survey; or
- contributes 50 per cent or more of the funding for the survey; or
- commissions a block of questions on a repeated omnibus collection run by a consultant; or
- has it's logo or name prominently displayed on the survey questionnaire.
Directed to businesses
Any survey or component of a survey that collects information from businesses is considered to be directed to businesses. Specifically, a survey or a component of a survey is considered to be directed to businesses, whenever:
- business records will need to be referred to in order to complete the questionnaire.
- an individual is asked to supply information about the business or business activity and will need to complete the form during paid work hours; or
- individuals, such as managing directors, are specifically selected because of their position or the information they can provide about the business with which they are associated; or
This excludes surveys which collect information from:
- a combination of private individuals and businesses, unless the businesses are given separate questions or included through a distinct selection mechanism; or
- only Australian Government, state and local government budget funded agencies, public hospitals or public schools; or
- businesses who are under contractual obligations to agencies and aimed at measuring the businesses' performance against these obligations.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is research undertaken through informal enquiries, investigations, focus groups, case studies or individual discussions. Qualitative research must not involve the completion of a structured questionnaire nor lead to aggregated data.
Significant Change
A significant change in a repeating survey is one that involves:
- an increase of 5% or more, or a decrease of 15% or more, in expected respondent burden; or
- a break or variation in the statistical time series produced by the survey that requires explicit explanation as being due to a change in the survey process rather than to a genuine change in what is being surveyed; or
- a change in the principle outputs, e.g. a change in classifications or data items used, or an increase in the number of data items.
- a change in the mode of how the survey information is to be collected.
Statistical Collection
See Survey.
Survey
A survey is an activity involving the collection of data, by a structured set of questions, primarily for the purpose of producing summarised information or scientific inferences. The collection of data can occur by telephone, personal interview, paper or electronic form. Surveys can be conducted as a census or as a sample survey. Surveys excludes administrative collections and qualitative research.
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