 | INDEX FOR CODING RESPONSES |
WHAT IS IT?
Responses provided in statistical and administrative collections do not always reflect the official names of classification categories in the SACC. A coding index is therefore necessary to act as a link between individual responses and the classification categories (and supplementary codes), enabling data to be coded accurately and quickly to the appropriate category.
The coding index for population statistics should be used when coding responses to questions on 'country of birth', 'country of origin', etc.
The coding index has been revised using data from the 2006 Census. It contains a comprehensive list of the most probable responses to questions relating to country and their correct classification codes.
A coding index designed to assist in the allocation of country codes to economic data is also included in the SACC.
CODING RULES
Coding rules should be used when coding responses that do not appear in the coding index provided.
The coding rules are:
- Responses which match exactly with an index entry are given the code allocated to that index entry.
- Responses which match a country but which contain extra information to that included in the coding index are given the code of that country. This includes responses giving a full or formal country name (for example, Syrian Arab Republic is coded to Syria).
- Responses which relate directly to a country but which consist of a different spelling are given the code of that country (for example, Tadzhikistan for Tajikistan).
This is also the case for:
- abbreviations (for example, Aust. for Australia),
- initials (for example, USA for United States of America),
- foreign language names (for example, Ceska Republika for the Czech Republic), and
- slang or idiosyncratic responses (for example, Aussie or Oz for Australia).
- For responses which consist of an old country name (for example, Persia for Iran) it is necessary to determine the current country or geographic area to which the response relates and allocate the appropriate code.
Special supplementary codes have been assigned to the defunct political entities of eastern Europe (former USSR, former Czechoslovakia, etc.) and these codes should be used rather than the standard supplementary codes.
In cases where the former entity was larger than any current country's border, but is contained within the region's minor group (such as 0913 Yugoslavia, 0914 Czechoslovakia and 0921 Serbia and Montenegro - within 3200, 3300 and 3200 respectively), the 09.. supplementary code can be utilised as the input code to retain an input count, while an edit can add that count to output at the broader, 3200 or 3300, minor group level, as in the example in Using the classification - Editing specifications.
- Changes in national boundaries create coding difficulties. To maintain consistency of coding in all applications it is preferable that each country response be coded according to national boundaries existing at the time of the data collection. Therefore, all responses relating to a country which currently exists, but which has undergone boundary changes at some time in the past, are coded to the named country.
For example, persons who give their country of birth as 'Germany' are coded to Germany, even though the boundaries of Germany may have changed since they were born. They may have been born in a place that is now in Poland.
Birthplace responses which relate to particular cities or regions which are now in one country, but which were in another country at the time of birth, should be coded to the country the city or region is in at the time of data collection.
For example, the response 'Danzig' should be coded to Poland not to Germany and it is included as such in the coding index.
- Responses relating to countries which have changed name, without changing boundaries, are coded to the latest name in the classification (e.g. 'Upper Volta' is coded to 'Burkina Faso').
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