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 Environmental Views and Behaviour survey was conducted throughout Australia during the 2007-08 financial year. The survey was a component of the 2007-08 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

Three spreadsheets were released from the Environmental Views and Behaviour survey in January 2009. The spreadsheets in this release follow five months after the spreadsheets and Confidentialised Unit Record File released in January 2009.

ACCURACY

The number of completed interviews (after taking into account scope and coverage exclusions) for the Environmental Views and Behaviour survey was 13,527. Refer to the Explanatory Notes (paragraphs 4-6) for more information on the scope of the survey.

The MPHS was designed primarily to provide estimates at the Australia level, but for the Environmental Views and Behaviour survey estimates are also available for states and territories with capital city and balance of state/territory breakdowns. Users should exercise caution when using estimates at this level because of some high sampling errors. The Relative Standard Errors (RSEs) may be too high if finer cross-tabulation of the data is attempted.


COHERENCE

This is the first time the Environmental Views and Behaviour topic has been collected in the MPHS. As a result, no data is available for direct comparison.

INTERPRETABILITY

This Environmental Views and Behaviour release contains tables, an Introduction and a Summary of Findings to aid interpretation of the results of the survey. Detailed Explanatory Notes, a Data Item list and a Glossary are also included, providing information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics.

Further key references on electricity, water and waste can be found through the following websites:

Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation, Australia, Mar 2008, (cat. no. 4602.0.55.001) Environmental Issues: People's Views and Practices, Mar 2007, (cat. no. 4602.0) (1994 to 2007 issues)

ACCESSIBILITY

Environmental Views and Behaviour (cat. no. 4626.0.55.001) tables and associated RSEs are available in spreadsheet form, released electronically via the ABS website.

Data is available at the Australia level, states and territories with capital city and balance of state/territory breakdowns. Additional data may be available on request. Note that detailed data can be subject to high Relative Standard Errors, and where this is the case they should be used with caution.

For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Centre on 1300 135 070.