National Statistics

[tamborine]

Have you had cold callers from Office of National Statisics & are these people bona fide?

[mikey4444]

Yes, of course they are, They carry ID, which you can easily check. ( I worked for them for 3 months, a few years ago )

They are responsible for the Labour Force Survey :::

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/uklabourmarketstatisticsfeb2017

[mikey4444]

Meant 13 months !

[tamborine]

Is it compulsory to answer their questions

[mikey4444]

Tambo....its not compulsory to answer any survey, but they rely on the goodwill of the public. Its our choice.

Have you been sent an advance letter, and what survey/study are they asking you to assist them with ?

[ladybirder]

They phoned me a few times over a year or so, about 15 years ago. Always polite and willing to call back if you were busy. I found it interesting and quite nice someone was interested in my opinion!

[tamborine]

I dont know why am targetted & no advance letter. Ive had cards for last 3 days

[Togo]

In short Tambo, it is people like Mikey asking you questions that they themselves would not answer....say on Answerbank. Tell em to "go forth and multiply". Two words cover that.

[Mamyalynne]

Or much easier, say 'No thank you'.

[THECORBYLOON]

The link here gives more information, https://www.ons.gov.uk/surveys/informationforhouseholdsandindividuals

[jno]

and then complain how the metropolitan elite never pay attention to the wishes of ordinary people, i suppose.

[Mamyalynne]

I don't mind a decent survey, do most of mine online - hate telephone ones.

A while since I had a home one.

[mikey4444]

Tambo...what do these cards say ? Do they tell what the ONS Interviewer wants your help with ?

[vetuste_ennemi]

I don't know how stats relating to the labour force, or others mentioned in the ONS website are gathered by home visits.

Does anyone have an example of an ONS research project using interviewers?

[Mamyalynne]

This is a little old but may give you some ideas about how the Labour Force Surveys are conducted and some of the things asked. I doubt a great deal has changed.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110827023812/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/What_exactly_is_LFS1.pdf

[vetuste_ennemi]

Thanks for the link, Mamya.

Extraordinary, must follow up. "Number of people in employment" determined by a random sample of 53,000 homes? Not NI cards v people receiving benefits, then? I must have misread or misunderstood this.

Easy mistakes for this poster to make.

[Buenchico]

>>> Does anyone have an example of an ONS research project using interviewers?

The annual Crime Survey for England and Wales is conducted by ONS, who select 50,000 households at random. Their protocol doesn't allow any substitution of addresses, so everyone who refuses to take part reduces the size of the database upon which the survey is based.

I've taken part in the survey myself. The interviewer turns up at a pre-agreed time, asks his/her questions and enters the answers directly onto his/her laptop. Dead easy. No problems.

[Buenchico]

>>> Not NI cards v people receiving benefits, then?

The majority of people who are receiving state benefits are actually IN employment.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Mind you, 53,000 is a very big sample. And needs lots of interviewers if the single technique for capturing data is knocking on doors.

(Don't get me banned for this. Loads of Mikeys knock, knock, knocking on Evan's door)

[vetuste_ennemi]

Forgive my simplification, Buenchico. I was suggesting that there are hard data about people who can work and are working and who can and aren't. I may be wrong in my assumption.

[ladybirder]

v_e nobody ever knocked on my door, as I said earlier, it was all done by telephone.