Annual Survey of Aged Care Homes, Financial Year 2004/2005
- Overview
- Quality Framework
- A. General Information
- B. User Requirements, Survey Objectives and Budget
- C. Alternative Sources of Data
- D. Data Outputs
- E. Questionnaire Design and Data Collection *** You are here ***
- E1 Questionnaire(s)
- E2 How questions will be used
- E3 Data collection methods
- E4 Respondent choices
- E5 Questionnaire testing
- E6 Consultation with businesses
- F. Respondent Load
- G. Population / Frame
- H. Sample Design
- I. Estimation and Analysis
E. Questionnaire Design and Data Collection
Please provide copy (copies) of questionnaire(s). (E1)
Note. Where possible, provides an electronic copy of the questionnaire. The SCH approval number is placed on the survey questionnaire and on any explanatory material sent to businesses for the survey.
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Are there any questions not used directly in the principal data outputs specified in D1? If yes, how are these questions used? (E2)
- No.
Acquisition of business intelligence software has enabled improved methods for calculations using the survey data. This in turn has allowed simplification of the questionnaire. However the main data items are unchanged and all relate to the outputs specified in D1
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E3 Data collection methods
What is (are) the method(s) of collecting the data (eg self-completion, telephone interviewing, face to face interviewing, etc)? Why was it (were they) chosen? (E3)
Note. If more than one method will be used, the agency should indicate the extent to which it expects each method will be used, eg 5% of responses by fax and the remaining responses by phone.
- Each aged care home is operated by an approved provider. About half of the approved providers operate more than one home. Questionnaires are distributed to the approved providers (rather than the homes) as the providers bear legal and administrative responsibility for the responses.
Respondents will complete the questionnaires themselves and fax or post their responses to the Department’s contractor. (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) used in 2001 was discontinued as the take-up rate was poor at 6% and there were accuracy problems.)
For the 2004-05 survey, it is envisaged that respondents operating more than one aged care home will have the option to submit data in a simple electronic format, such as a spreadsheet, which could be downloaded from the Department’s website and returned as an e-mail attachment. Direct online entry of data is not proposed due to confidentiality, privacy and security requirements that cannot be dealt with in the short time available for the survey.
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E4 Respondent choices
If only one method is stated in E3, above, what consideration has been given to offering respondents a choice in how they provide their answers (eg phone, fax, mail, Web/Internet)? (E4)
- Not applicable
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E5 Questionnaire testing
What testing of the questionnaire(s) has (have) taken place? (E5)
Note. Should include a brief description of the testing, ie, when, number of respondents, methodology, and major findings.
- As the Survey has been in operation for several years in a similar format, each year has been in effect a pilot of the next year’s survey. Some refinements have been made to the language of the questions, to describe as clearly as possible the information requested. Following each survey, the contractor analyses and reports on any difficulties and makes recommendations. Questions to the Department’s survey hotline are also logged and analysed.
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E6 Consultation with businesses
What consultations have taken place, other than testing, with businesses or business associations regarding availability of data items and data collection methods? (E6)
Note. Refers to activities other than testing.
- The sought data items are necessarily available to respondents as part of their ordinary business as approved providers of residential aged care.
Cooperation and endorsement is sought each year from peak aged care bodies, which are consulted regularly about the survey. As noted above, the Aged Care Advisory Committee, the key Ministerial advisory body, on which the industry associations are represented at executive level, has repeatedly endorsed the survey process.
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