Page tools:
 Print Page
 Print All
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard question module 34. There are two alternatives for the standard question module for Religious Affiliation, depending on space and cost considerations:
35. Answering a question about Religious Affiliation is optional in ABS censuses and surveys as it is considered a sensitive topic. Section 14 (2) of the Census and Statistics Act 1905, which addresses the issue of refusal or failure to answer questions, states that this 'does not apply in relation to a refusal or failure by a person to answer a question, or supply particulars, relating to the person's religious beliefs.' As such, in ABS collections the question must clearly state that answering is optional. Including some examples of possible responses may assist the respondent. It is also important to advise respondents that if they do not have a religion, they are still asked to answer the question. 36. The list of religions included with the question is based on the statistical significance of adherents in these groups as counted in the 1996 Census, and is designed for efficiency and economy when coding responses. The list implies no view by the ABS of the relative importance of any religious group or groups and will be reviewed periodically as different religions assume a greater or lesser significance in the Australian context. The qualifier 'not Eastern Churches' is added to the 'Catholic' response category in the list to distinguish between Roman (or Western) Catholic churches and the Eastern Catholic churches (eg. Maronite Catholic, Melkite Catholic and Ukrainian Catholic churches). The 'Other' category is included for those people who adhere or belong to a religion not listed, 'Please specify' and the space provided invites people to write in their response for the 'Other' category. Alternative two 37. If there is a need for detailed information on religion but space constraints are an over-riding consideration, the full tick box list can be replaced by space for respondents to write in their religion and a tick box for 'No religion'. If this is done, however, there will be significant additional coding costs since each response will need to be matched to an entry in the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG) (ABS Cat. No. 1266.0) coding index. This is only likely to be appropriate in small scale data collection activities and in cases where data entry of verbatim responses is an administrative requirement or where optical character recognition data capture technologies are used, allowing automatic matching of response data with index entries. The question module would be as follows:
Standard input categories 38. The standard input categories are the same as the categories of the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG) (Cat. no. 1266.0). For operational reasons, supplementary codes also exist to enable inadequately described responses to be coded.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
