QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination section of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with CURFs can be found at the "How is CURF data confidentialised?" page.
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
The Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS) 2008-09 CURF is an Expanded CURF and contains information on four topics: Crime Victimisation, Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Retirement and Retirement Intentions and Household Use of Information Technology (HUIT). The CURF also contains other socio-demographic information such as educational qualifications, occupation and industry of current job and personal and household income. Information on the level of detail provided on the unit record file can be found in the data item list.
TIMELINESS
The 2008-09 MPHS was collected from July 2008 to June 2009 and the CURF released twelve months after completion of enumeration. Information from the collection has previously been released in several topic specific publications.
The Household Use of Information Technology (cat. no. 8146.0) publication was released on 16 December 2009. Information on this topic has been collected annually from 2004-05. Future collections on this topic will occur biennially, the next collection taking place in 2010/11.
The Crime Victimisation (cat . no. 4530.0) product was released on 18 February 2010. This is the first time the Crime Victimisation topic was collected on the MPHS.
The most recent publication of data from the Retirement and Retirement Intentions (cat. no. 6238.0) topic, which is now collected biennially on the MPHS, was released on 17 December 2009.
The Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation (cat. no. 6239.0) publication, also collected biennially as part of the MPHS, was released on 8 December 2009.
ACCURACY
The MPHS CURF contains individual person level data (unit records). Along with unit record data, the CURF contains finer levels of detail for data items than what is otherwise published. For more information on the level of detail provided in the CURF please see the data item list.
Steps to confidentialise the data made available on the CURF are taken in such a way as to maximise the usefulness of the content while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents to ABS statistical collections. As a result, it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from the CURF with published statistics.
For more information on the Survey Methodology, see Technical Manual: Multipurpose Household Survey, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4100.0).
COHERENCE
HUIT has been included on the MPHS since 2004-05. Prior to 2004-05 data on household use of information technology was collected by the ABS using a number of different surveys. While the ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to data collection; sound survey practice requires ongoing development to maintain the integrity of the data. In the main, the data included in this MPHS CURF are comparable to previous MPHS CURFs. However, the data are not directly comparable to data collected in other surveys. For a more detailed discussion of these difference see the Explanatory Notes from the Household Use of Information Technology (cat. no. 8146.0) publication.
The ABS 2008-09 Crime Victimisation Survey has been redesigned, which means data presented in this release cannot be compared to previous crime and safety data. For further discussion on the comparability between this topic and other collections see the Explanatory Notes from the Crime Victimisation (cat. no. 4530.0) publication.
Since the 1997 collection of Retirement and Retirement Intentions there have been conceptual changes which affect time series comparisons. This means users should exercise caution when comparing data from previous surveys. For further discussion on the comparability between this topic and other collections see the Explanatory Notes from the Retirement and Retirement Intentions (cat. no. 6238.0) publication.
For the 2008-09 Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation topic content was added to explore incentives to join or increase participation in the labour force. There has also been a shift from reporting 'caring for children' to 'home duties'. Some people with young children indicated that 'home duties' was their reason for not being available for work, rather than 'caring for children'. For further discussion on the comparability between this topic and other collections see the Explanatory Notes from the Barriers and Incentives to Labour Participation (cat. no. 6239.0) publication.
INTERPRETABILITY
The Technical Manual: Multipurpose Household Survey, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4100.0) is a key source for consultation when using the CURF. It includes survey objectives, methods and design; survey content; data quality and interpretation; output data items; and information about the availability of results; and the content of the CURF file. Further information can also be found in the Explanatory Notes section of the publications Household Use of Information Technology (cat. no. 8146.0), Crime Victimisation (cat. no. 4530.0), Barriers and Incentives to Labour Participation (cat. no. 6239.0) and Retirement and Retirement Intentions (cat. no. 6238.0).
ACCESSIBILITY
CURF microdata are not available to the public without special access being granted. All CURF users are required to read and abide by the 'Responsible Access to ABS Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) Training Manual'. Application to access particular CURF microdata can be done by following the steps found on the Applying for CURF Microdata web page.
The Expanded CURF can be accessed through the Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL) and the ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL). More detail regarding types and modes of access to CURFs can be found on the CURF Access Modes and Levels of Detail web page.
If you have any questions regarding access to CURF Microdata please contact the Microdata Access Strategies Section at <microdata.access@abs.gov.au> or call (02) 6252 7714.
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