…and will go on for the next six weeks:
Population census on for next six weeks
KUALA LUMPUR: The fifth national population census has begun with enumerators making a special effort last night to seek out homeless people in several cities.
During the six-week period (July 6 to Aug 22), 29,000 enumerators will visit an estimated 7.5 million homes to collect data that is vital for the planning and implementation of government policies.
Other developments:
> CHIEF Statistician Datuk Wan Ramlah Wan Abdul Raof said under normal circumstances only one enumerator would visit a residence at a time. If there is more than one officer approaching the household, residents can call the department hotline at 1-800-88-7828 for verification; and
> RESPONDENTS can also opt to provide their particulars using the e-Census form by visiting http://www.statistics.gov.my. Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan, who took only 10 minutes to fill the e-Census form, calls on the public to utilise the Government’s e-services.
Remember: safety first – there should not be more than one enumerator visiting, so keep your local police station number handy.
Also if you’re working and don’t have the time to fill out the survey form, you can also participate online here.
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Well, three came to my house yesterday. I asked them to just leave a form and I will fill it out later. That's when I realise they had to visit 300 houses, but each is only given 10 hard copy forms. No kidding.
ReplyDeleteI let them in to ask a few questions. They got the basics: Names, I.C. Numbers, Educational Level and Income Level. Then they stopped asking.
I enquired what kind of questions are there in the form and why aren't they asking - That's when I realise there are questions similar to "Do you own an iPod?" and "Do you have a flushing toilet in your house?"
They didn't ask anything about race or religion - to which I would have answered "Malaysian" and "Atheist". I assumed they went back home and entered "Chinese" and "Buddhist". How is this going to produce any accurate result?
Compare this to the 2006 Australian Census which was carried out when I was studying there. They mailed you the form. You fill it in, you mail it out. They hire people in call centres to take questions from people in a multitude of languages.
With all due respect, the system here sucks.
That doesn't sound good. With your permission, I'm going to forward your comment to DOS.
ReplyDeleteI hereby declare that I publish my previous as well as this comment regarding the 2010 Malaysian Census into the public domain and retain no copyright over it. You can forward comment to them, and I thank you in advance for that.
ReplyDeleteI do have to say that they seemed to be very ill-trained. I asked if they were volunteers, and they half-jokingly said "Of course not. We are all mata duitan."
As for the online census, seeing how I am just 23 and should be well adept with computers and internet, that's the first thing they should have informed me ask me to do. That would have reduced their workload and increase their efficiency. Instead, they chose to ask me the basic questions and chose to complete the form later with a process I can only assume to be "guesstimation" and fill-in-the-blanks.