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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 The statistics in this publication were compiled from data collected in the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey conducted throughout Australia in April 2007 as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS).

2 The publication Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) contains information about survey design, sample redesign, scope, coverage and population benchmarks relevant to the LFS, which also apply to supplementary surveys. It also contains definitions of demographic and labour force characteristics, and information about computer assisted and telephone interviewing which are relevant to both the monthly LFS and supplementary surveys.

CONCEPTS, SOURCES AND METHODS

3 The conceptual framework used in Australia's LFS aligns closely with the standards and guidelines set out in Resolutions of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians. Descriptions of the underlying concepts and structure of Australia's labour force statistics, and the sources and methods used in compiling these estimates are presented in Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0) which is available on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au> .

SCOPE

4 The scope of the survey included all persons aged 15 years and over who were usual residents of private dwellings except:

• members of the Australian permanent defence forces
• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from censuses and surveys
• overseas residents in Australia
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.

COVERAGE

6 The estimates in this publication relate to persons covered by the survey in April 2007. In the LFS, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence had only one chance of selection in the survey. See Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for more details.

DATA COLLECTION

7 Information was collected through interviews conducted over a two week period during April 2007.

8 The survey was conducted using a sub-sample of the Monthly Population Survey (MPS) sample. The MPS, which is described in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), comprises the monthly labour force topic and supplementary topics. The household sample for the MPS was selected using multistage sampling techniques and included approximately 30,000 private dwellings. Information relating to work in selected culture and leisure activities was collected from seven-eighths of the private dwellings selected for the MPS. Information was obtained from any responsible adult in the household who was asked to respond on behalf of one randomly selected person aged 15 years and over in the household.

SAMPLE SIZE

9 Approximately 94% of selected households were fully responding to the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey. One randomly selected person per household was interviewed for the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey and a total of 26,213 complete interviews were obtained.

WEIGHTING, BENCHMARKING AND ESTIMATION

10 The estimation process for this survey ensures that estimates of persons calibrate exactly to independently produced population totals at broad levels. The known population totals, commonly referred to as 'benchmarks', are produced according to the scope of the survey.

DATA INTERPRETATION

11 Involvement in an activity relates to the 12 month period prior to interview. Work by a person in a particular activity was only recorded once, even if there were different periods over which that activity was undertaken or if there were several different organisations for which the person worked in that activity during the 12 months prior to interview. For example, a person who worked in different libraries was recorded only once as being involved in libraries.

12 Payment status was classified into two categories: some paid involvement and unpaid involvement only. Where persons were involved in more than one of the selected activities of the survey, the payment status for all culture and leisure activities was determined by considering all of those activities combined. For example, the payment status of a person who was paid for their activity in libraries and unpaid for their involvement in museums would be classified as having some paid involvement in culture and leisure activities.

13 Qualification status was classified into two categories: has relevant qualifications and does not have relevant qualifications. Refer to the Glossary for further information.

14 Totals for all activities and sub totals for art activities and for craft activities are not presented in Tables 7 and 9 as income and duration data were collected in ranges for each specific activity and therefore cannot be accurately aggregated across more than one activity.

15 Additional information on certain activities - namely, writing, live music performances, performing art performances and design - was collected and is presented in Table 10.

COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS SURVEYS

16 The Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey was previously conducted as part of the MPS in 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2004 and as part of the Population Survey Monitor in 1998-99. When making comparisons between these surveys it is important to be aware of the changes in the methodology and questionnaires as discussed in the following paragraphs.

17 As the 1998-99 data were collected using a different survey methodology and scope than the data collected for this publication, the context within which the 1998-99 questions were answered differed significantly. Consequently, comparisons with the 1998-99 data are not recommended and are not presented in this publication.

18 In 1993, information was obtained for every person aged 15 years and over in the household using face-to-face interviewing techniques. This information was obtained from a responsible adult who answered on behalf of the other members of the household. Respondents were shown a list of the selected culture and leisure activities on prompt cards, and asked to select which activities they had been involved in over the previous 12 months.

19 In 1997, the methodology changed to include, where appropriate, telephone interviewing. Information was obtained from two persons aged 15 years and over in each household. Respondents were asked if they had been involved in any culture or leisure activities in the previous 12 months, with the interviewer reading out the selected activities over the phone as prompts.

20 In 2001, 2004 and 2007, the survey was again conducted using, where appropriate, telephone interviewing. Information was obtained from a responsible adult who answered on behalf of one randomly selected person aged 15 and over in each household. Respondents were asked if they had been involved in any culture or leisure activities in the previous 12 months, with the interviewer reading out the selected activities over the phone as prompts.

21 Prior to October 2003, all ABS interviews were conducted using a 'pen and paper' collection method. In October 2003, the ABS commenced the progressive implementation of computer assisted interviewing (CAI) into the LFS and its supplementary surveys. Under CAI, interviewers record responses directly onto an electronic questionnaire in a notebook computer. In the April 2004 survey, the CAI method was used on 40% of survey interviews. The remaining 60% of interviews were conducted using the traditional 'pen and paper' method. In the April 2007 survey, the CAI method was used for all survey interviews. The change of interviewing method is not expected to have affected the estimates in any meaningful way.

22 There have been changes to the questionnaires between years which may have had an effect on the estimates for some activities. Changes between 2004 and 2007 are discussed below. For information on changes between surveys conducted in previous years, please see the April 2004 issue of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia (cat. no. 6281.0).

23 Several changes to question wording were made to the 2007 survey. These changes were made to increase respondent understanding of the question meaning and are not expected to have affected the estimates in any significant way.

24 Several changes to the data items collected were made to the 2007 survey. The main changes between the 2004 and 2007 surveys are:

• Fete organising was asked in 2004, but was not asked in 2007.
• In 2004 respondents were asked about whether their involvement in each activity was part of any job, but in 2007 were only asked about whether their involvement in each activity was part of their main job. Refer to the Glossary for further information.
• While involvement in designing websites and designing computer games was asked separately in 2004, these activities were then grouped together in questions that asked the details of the involvement (e.g. questions about the payment status of the involvement, the length of involvement and whether the involvement was part of the respondent's job). In 2007 details about involvement in these activities was asked separately. This resulted in more detailed information being available for these activities.
• In 2004 involvement in the design activities of architecture, graphic design, fashion design, advertising and other design activities were asked separately but for the purpose of asking details of the involvement, these activities were grouped together. In 2007 the details about involvement in design activities were asked separately. This resulted in more detailed information being available for these activities.
• Income received from involvement in culture and leisure activities was collected in ranges in both surveys. In 2004, income was collected separately for each activity with the uppermost category of $40,000 or more, while in 2007 the uppermost category was $5,000 or more. In 2007, an additional question was added to collect the total income for all activities, with an uppermost category of $80,000 or more.

26 While caution should be exercised in making comparisons between the surveys due to the changes outlined above, summary data from the 1993, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007 surveys can be found in Table 13. Several activities have data missing in Table 13 for 1993 and 1997 due to conceptual differences between survey periods. Additional summary data from 2004 and 2007 only can be found in Table 14. Overall, the 1993, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007 methodology are considered sufficiently similar that the comparisons in Tables 13 and 14 can be made.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER ABS SOURCES

27 Since the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey is conducted as a supplement to the LFS, data items collected in the LFS are also available. However, there are some important differences between the two surveys. The Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities sample is a subset of the LFS sample (see Paragraph 8 of these Explanatory Notes) and the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey had a response rate of 94% which is lower than the LFS response rate for the same period of 97%. Due to these differences between the samples, the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey data are weighted as a separate process to the weighting of LFS data (see Paragraph 10 of these Explanatory Notes for further information on weighting). Differences may therefore be found in the estimates collected in the LFS and published as part of the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey, when compared with estimates published in the April 2007 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

28 Additionally, estimates from the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey may differ from the estimates produced from other ABS collections, for several reasons. The Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey is a sample survey and its results are subject to sampling error. Results may differ from other sample surveys, which are also subject to sampling error. Users should take account of the RSEs on estimates and those of other survey estimates where comparisons are made.

29 Differences may also exist in the scope and/or coverage of the Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey compared to other surveys. Differences in estimates, when compared to the estimates of other surveys, may result from different reference periods reflecting seasonal variations, non-seasonal events that may have impacted on one period but not another, or because of underlying trends in the phenomena being measured.

30 Finally, differences can occur as a result of using different collection methodologies. This is often evident in comparisons of similar data items reported from different ABS collections where, after taking account of definition and scope differences and sampling error, residual differences remain. These differences are often the result of the mode of the collections, such as whether data is collected by an interviewer or self-enumerated by the respondent, whether the data is collected from the person themselves or from a proxy respondent, and the level of experience of the interviewers. Differences may also result from the context in which questions are asked, i.e. where in the interview the questions are asked and the nature of preceding questions. The impacts on data of different collection methodologies are difficult to quantify.

31 The following table, Comparison of Data from Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey and Labour Force Survey, presents comparisons between some broad level data items that were collected on the LFS and reported in the April 2007 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) and the current publication. The comparison shows that Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities data are broadly consistent with LFS data.

Comparison of Data, Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey and Labour Force Survey
		Labour Force Survey	Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities Survey
		%	%
LABOUR FORCE STATUS
	Employed full-time	44.1	45.0
	Employed part-time	17.9	18.5
	Total employed	62.0	63.5
	Unemployed	2.9	3.0
	Not in the labour force	35.1	33.6
COUNTRY OF BIRTH
	Australia	70.5	71.2
	Overseas	29.5	28.8

• Sampling error is the difference between the published estimate and the value that would have been produced if all dwellings had been included in the survey. For further information on sampling error, refer to the Technical Note.
• Non-sampling errors are inaccuracies that occur because of imperfections in reporting by respondents and interviewers, and errors made in coding and processing data. These inaccuracies may occur in any enumeration, whether it be a full count or a sample. Every effort is made to reduce non-sampling error to a minimum by careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers and efficient processing procedures.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

34 Other ABS publications which may be of interest include:

Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2007, cat. no. 4172.0
Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, 2001, cat. no. 4902.0
Botanic Gardens, Australia, 1999-2000, cat. no. 8563.0
Commercial Art Galleries, Australia, 1999-2000, cat. no. 8651.0
Employment in Culture, Australia, 2001, cat. no. 6273.0
Television, Film and Video Production, Australia, 2002-2003, cat. no. 8679.0
Motion Picture Exhibition, Australia, 1999-2000, cat. no. 8654.0
Museums, Australia, 2003-04, cat. no. 8560.0
Performing Arts, Australia, 2002-2003, cat. no. 8697.0
Public Libraries, Australia, 2003-04, cat. no. 8561.0
Television Services, Australia, 1999-2000, cat. no. 8559.0
Radio and Television Services, Australia, 1996-1997, cat. no. 8680.0
Sound Recording Studios, Australia, 1996-1997, cat. no. 8555.0
Video Hire Industry, Australia, 1999-2000, cat. no. 8562.0
Voluntary Work, Australia, 2006, cat. no. 4441.0
Zoos, Parks and Gardens Industry, Australia, 1996-1997, cat. no. 8699.0