Output

Output includes publications, user guides, data cubes and microdata.

The following are the recommended standard output categories for data on 'Relationship in household' for use in self-completed collections such as the Census of Population and Housing only. This is because the input classifications for the Census are different to those for household surveys as discussed in the 'Collection Methods' page.

It is standard to aggregate data from these categories in interviewer-based and self-completed collections as follows, and footnotes and/or glossary entries must describe the standard output categories which comprise each aggregated output category:

Note: Visitors are not included in this output aggregation.

Output aggregating dependent children where the two categories 'Child under 15' and 'Dependent student' are aggregated to form a single output category of 'Dependent child':

Output aggregating 'Relationship in household' with 'Family composition' can be used if appropriate. Note that for collections where 'Children under 15' are out of scope, such as ABS Labour Force collections, the category 'Child under 15' may be omitted.

It is also possible to further aggregate the above table as follows:

Mandatory footnotes and other output information are required when disseminating data even though all the outputs stated above are standard. A summary of these footnotes and output information follows:

• Glossary definitions must be listed for every standard output label used.
• The separate identification of same-sex couple families is not recommended for standard output because the reporting of same-sex couple relationships is likely to be low. Such data would therefore be expected to be statistically insignificant, to exhibit high standard errors and potentially breach confidentiality requirements in some collections.
• The abbreviation 'n.e.c.' must be footnoted with the explanation 'not elsewhere classified'.
• The categories 'With children under 15', 'With no children under 15 and with dependent students' and 'With non-dependent children only' are mutually exclusive:
  • the category 'With children under 15' may or may not include the presence of dependent students and non-dependent children
  • similarly, the category 'With no children under 15 and with dependent students' may or may not include non-dependent children.
• These facts must be stated in a footnote.
• The category 'Not living alone' is an aggregation of two categories from the standard classification: 'Unrelated individual in family household' and 'Group household member'. This must be stated in a footnote or explained by a Glossary entry for 'Not living alone'.
• The distinction between step child and the other types of child is optional, and depends on whether this information is available from the response data.

When members of a household have been confirmed as usual residents of the dwelling, the following supporting variables are required for deriving a valid 'Relationship in household':

'Age'

• The age of each person is required for identifying children and other dependent relationships.

'Sex'

• The sex of each person is required to identify same-sex couple relationships.

'Marital status'

• In collections that distinguish between registered and de facto (social) marriages, 'Registered marital status' is a required supporting variable for 'Relationship in household'. However, for some collections the distinction between 'married' and 'not married' in the 'Social marital status' classification is sufficient for output requirements.

'Full-time/part-time student status'

• This is used to determine whether household members who are 15-24 years of age are studying and therefore considered to be dependent children.

'Family number'

• Separate families living in the same household are treated as separate units by the 'Relationship in household' classification. Each family unit in a household is assigned a Family number; the same family number is then assigned to each person in that family.

The 'Relationship in household' classification is closely linked to the following standard classifications:

• 'Family composition'.
• 'Household composition'.
• 'Registered marital status'.
• 'Social marital status'.
• 'Income unit composition'.

Changes to any of these classifications cannot be considered in isolation and all possible ramifications concerning the other classifications should be investigated before any change is adopted.