[LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Census 2006

[Jan Whitaker]

>Eager fill in census early
>The Age
>August 2, 2006
>
>Australians are already filling out their census forms a week before the
>official count on Tuesday, calling into question the validity of the
>national survey.
>Already 16,000 people have completed their forms online, despite pleas from
>the Australian Bureau of Statistics to wait until Tuesday when it hopes the
>entire nation will complete the survey.
>
>The problem with filling out the forms early was that some people could be
>counted twice, if they completed their form and then visited friends or
>family on Tuesday, head of the census at ABS Paul Williams said.
>
>In the past, the only way to tell how many census forms had been completed
>early was by the number posted to the ABS before census night.
>
>But this had been easier to measure this time because of the online census,
>which sends an automatic text message alert to the collector when a form is
>complete.
>
>Mr Williams said it was inevitable that some would complete the forms early.
>
>"As long as people are thinking about what their situation is going to be on
>census night and responding to the questions accordingly it should be OK,"
>he said. "We would prefer they fill out the forms a little bit early than
>not at all."

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
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'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is 
no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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