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Selecting respondents

When price samples have been determined, ABS field staff determine from which individual supermarkets and hot bakes the prices will be collected. The individual outlets are chosen to be representative of the two types of outlets taking into account many perspectives. For example, the outlets should be representative of the socio-economic characteristics of the city. The prices are collected each quarter from the same respondents for the same items.

Selecting items to price

When a respondent is first enrolled in the collection process the field staff will determine, in conjunction with the outlet management, which specific items are best representative of each elementary aggregate. For example, at one outlet it might be decided that the 680gm sliced white sandwich loaf is best representative of white sandwich bread; at another outlet it might be a 700gm white toast sliced sandwich loaf.

An important part of the ongoing price collection process is the monitoring of the items for quality change. In the stylised bread example this could occur in various ways. A possible quality change would be a change in the size (weight) of the loaf of bread. In this case prices would be adjusted to derive a pure price for the item along the lines illustrated in the example presented at the end of Chapter 2 (see the topic 'Example: Adjusting for quality'). Individual item prices are also validated against prices collected in the previous period to check their accuracy and to verify any large movements.