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INTRODUCTION

1 This publication presents results from a survey of organisations engaged in museum and art gallery operations for the reference year 2003-04. This is the fourth time the ABS has conducted a survey of museums. Previous surveys were undertaken in respect of the 1999-2000, 1997-98 and 1996-97 reference periods.

SCOPE

2 The scope of the 2003-04 Museums Survey was employing and non-employing businesses and organisations classified to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) Class 9220 - Museums. These organisations were mainly engaged in the operation of museums and art galleries. The scope also included other museums/galleries registered as having a collection with Australian Museums and Galleries OnLine (AMOL).

3 The types of museums in scope of this survey were: historic trusts and sites; historic societies with a collection; house museums; social and natural history museums; archives (excluding the national and state archives); art galleries (excluding commercial art galleries); keeping places and cultural centres; outdoor museums; science museums; maritime museums; military museums and transport museums.

4 Museums and galleries were only included if they were open to the general public during the 2003-04 reference year. The scope excluded organisations mainly engaged in the operation of botanic gardens; herbariums; zoological gardens; aquariums; observatories and planetariums; public libraries; and science centres.

COVERAGE

5 The ABS Business Register (refer to paragraph 11 for a description) provided the population of employing and non-employing organisations mainly engaged in the operation of museums and art galleries.

6 AMOL was used to identify any museums or art galleries that may not have been recorded on the ABS Business Register or were operated by organisations not classified to ANZSIC Class 9220 - Museums. AMOL is considered to be a comprehensive national directory of collecting institutions. However, registration to AMOL is voluntary, hence coverage of very small museums/galleries is unlikely to be complete.

IMPROVEMENTS TO COVERAGE

7 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new organisations to the ABS Business Register, and the omission of some organisations from the register. The majority of organisations affected, and to which the adjustments apply, are small in size.

8 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses in the estimates in the periods in which they commenced operations, rather than when they were processed to the ABS Business Register. Adjustments of this type will continue to be applied in future periods.

9 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0).

STATISTICAL UNIT

10 The statistical units used to represent museum and art gallery organisations, and for which statistics are reported, were:

• the Australian Business Number (ABN) or Type of Activity Unit (TAU) for organisations selected from the ABS Business Register; and
• the museum or art gallery selected from the AMOL listing.

12 In the Museums Survey, the statistical unit used to represent businesses, and for which statistics were reported, was the ABN unit, in most cases. The ABN unit is the business unit which has registered for an ABN, and thus appears on the Australian Taxation Office administered Australian Business Register. This unit is suitable for ABS statistical needs when the business is simple in structure. For more significant and diverse businesses where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical needs, the statistical unit used is the TAU. A TAU is comprised of one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an Enterprise Group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. When a minimum set of data items is available, a TAU is created which covers all the operations within an industry subdivision and the TAU is classified to the relevant subdivision of the ANZSIC. Where a business cannot supply adequate data for each industry, a TAU is formed which contains activity in more than one industry subdivision and the TAU is classified to the predominant ANZSIC subdivision.

13 Further details about the ABS economic statistical units used in this survey, and in other ABS economic surveys (both sample surveys and censuses), can be found in Chapter 2 of the Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA) 2002 (cat. no. 1218.0).

AMOL listing

14 The organisations identified from the AMOL listing were, in the main, museums or art galleries, which had not separately registered as an ABN and were operated as part of Commonwealth, state and local government units.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER ABS STATISTICS

15 Annual industry data for museums is also published in Australian Industry (cat. no. 8560.0). However, the population and scope is significantly different from that used in the Museums Survey, therefore comparisons should not be made with Museums.

16 Information presented in the Australian Industry publication relates to businesses recorded on the Australian Business Register that were mainly engaged in operating museum or art galleries. These businesses are classified to ANZSIC Class 9220 - Museums.

17 In contrast, information presented in Museums presents information on organisations that were classified to ANZSIC Class 9220 - Museums and/or the AMOL listing. Organisations selected from the AMOL listing may not have predominantly engaged in the operation of a museum and/or art gallery. Furthermore, only museums/art galleries open to the general public during the 2003-04 reference cycle were included in the survey.

HISTORICAL COMPARISONS

18 Historical comparisons to results from previous surveys are not provided in this publication due to the changes to scope and coverage since the conduct of the last Museums Survey for the reference period 1999-2000.

RELIABILITY OF THE DATA

19 When interpreting the results of a survey it is important to take into account factors that may affect the reliability of estimates. Such factors can be classified as either sampling or non-sampling error.

20 The estimates in this publication, are based on information obtained from a randomly selected stratified sample. Consequently, the estimates in this publication are subject to sampling variability, that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been obtained if all units had been included in the survey. One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error (SE), which indicates the extent to which an estimate might have varied by chance because only a sample of units was included.

21 There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if all museums in Australia had been surveyed, and approximately 19 chances in 20 that the difference will be less than two SEs.

22 Sampling variability can also be measured by the relative standard error (RSE), which is obtained by expressing the SE as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. The RSE is a useful measure in that it provides an immediate indication of the percentage errors likely to have occurred due to the effects of random sampling, and this avoids the need to refer also to the size of the estimate.

RELATIVE STANDARD ERRORS FOR TABLE 1, SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS BY TYPE OF MUSEUM
		Art museums/ galleries	Historic properties/ sites	Social history museums	Other museums	Total
		%	%	%	%	%
Museum/gallery locations at end June		11.2	8.0	5.3	16.0	3.3
Employment at end of June		3.5	6.1	8.7	3.8	3.1
Volunteers during the month of June		15.8	11.7	12.8	13.9	7.6
Income
	Government funding	2.7	6.0	7.3	1.0	2.4
	Admissions	2.8	4.1	12.0	4.8	4.5
	Fundraising	1.5	4.2	5.7	2.0	1.3
	Other	1.5	2.1	7.1	10.9	3.0
	Total	1.9	3.3	6.0	2.2	1.8
Expenses
	Labour costs	3.4	4.4	8.0	3.2	2.6
	Other	1.9	4.3	4.4	1.5	1.4
	Total	2.3	4.1	5.7	2.0	1.8
Purchases of museum objects/artworks		3.1	5.7	10.8	3.6	2.9
Admissions
	Paid	11.4	10.7	11.7	4.3	5.3
	Free	30.0	39.8	7.1	37.8	15.9
	Total	25.8	17.8	7.1	21.5	10.6
Museum objects/art works at end June		44.3	7.6	3.7	0.2	2.4
Special exhibitions held		14.7	31.3	11.8	29.4	8.4

24 Estimates that have an estimated relative standard error between 10% and 25% are annotated with the symbol '^' . These estimates should be used with caution as they are subject to sampling variability too high for some purposes. Estimates with an RSE between 25% and 50% are annotated with the symbol '*', indicating that the estimate should be used with caution as it is subject to sampling variability too high for most practical purposes. Estimates with an RSE greater than 50% are annotated with the symbol '**' indicating that the sampling variability causes the estimates to be considered too unreliable for general use.

25 Errors other than those due to sampling may occur in any type of collection and are referred to as non-sampling error. For this survey, non-sampling error may result from such things as deficiencies in the register of businesses and/or the AMOL list from which the sample was drawn, non-response, imperfections in reporting and/or errors made in compiling results. The extent to which non-sampling error affects the results of the survey is not precisely quantifiable. Every effort was made to minimise non-sampling error by careful design and testing of the questionnaire, efficient operating procedures and systems and the use of appropriate methodology. Survey estimates subject to a high level of non-sampling error have been suppressed or provided with relevant cautions.

ROUNDING

26 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the components and the total. Similar discrepancies may occur between a proportion or ratio, and the ratio of the separate components.

REFERENCE PERIOD

27 Data contained in the tables in this publication related to museum/art gallery operations in Australia during the year ended June 2004. Financial estimates included the activity of any museum/art gallery that ceased or commenced operations during the year. Counts of organisations or locations included only those that were operating at 30 June 2004. Employment included only those persons working for a museum/art gallery during the last pay period ending in June 2004.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

28 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated; without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

29 Inquiries about these statistics and more detailed statistics than those presented in this publication should be made by telephoning the contact shown on the front page.