QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
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 Attitudes to the Environment Survey was conducted throughout Australia during the 2011–12 financial year. The survey was conducted as a component of the 2011–12 Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS), collected as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). One person aged 18 years and over was randomly selected from each in-scope household to be interviewed for the survey.
This survey presents information on people's views and practices on environmental issues, including environmental concerns, personal energy and water use, waste collection and disposal, and environmental involvement.
TIMELINESS
The Attitudes to the Environment Survey is collected every four years as part of the MPHS. This survey was first conducted in the 2007–08 financial year. Data from this survey is released approximately six months after enumeration.
ACCURACY
After taking into account sample loss, the response rate for the Attitudes to the Environment Survey was 78%. In total, information was collected from 12,937 fully responding households.
Estimates in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors. Sampling error is the error associated with taking a sample of dwellings rather than going to all dwellings in Australia. In this publication the sampling error is measured by the relative standard error (RSE), this is the standard error expressed as a percentage of the estimate. Non-sampling errors can occur in any data collection, whether based on a sample or a full count such as a census. Sources of non-sampling error include non-response, errors in reporting by respondents or recording answers by interviewers, and errors in coding or processing of data. Every effort is made to reduce the non–sampling error by careful design and testing of questions, training of interviewers, follow-up of respondents and extensive editing and quality control procedures at all stages of data processing.
Only estimates (numbers and proportions) with RSEs less than 25% are considered sufficiently reliable for most purposes. Estimates with RSEs between 25% to 50% have been included and are annotated to indicate they are subject to high sample variability and should be used with caution. In addition, estimates with RSEs greater than 50% have also been included and annotated to indicate they are considered too unreliable for general use.
COHERENCE
While the ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey, sound survey practice requires ongoing development to maintain the relevance of the data. For 2011–12, a few changes were made to the survey. These changes are outlined in paragraph 19 of the Explanatory Notes.
INTERPRETABILITY
This publication contains tables with annotated data and a summary of the main findings to assist with the interpretation of the results of the survey. Detailed Explanatory Notes, a Technical Note on Data Quality and a Glossary are also included providing information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics.
ACCESSIBILITY
All tables and associated RSEs are available in Excel spreadsheets and can be accessed from the Downloads tab of this publication.
Additional tables may also be available on request. Note that detailed data can be subject to high RSEs and, in some cases, may result in data being confidentialised.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
Quality Declaration 
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