Completing the census

[Archie_tect]

Wou;d've liked a "yes, but" option... to accommodate shades of grey, providing a nuanced record of the UK on 21.3.2021.

 

[a.twiddler]

In the feedback section at the end I queried the rather car centric question on household access to vehicles, as they limit it to cars and vans. I pointed out that with the recent increase in temporary cycle facilities due to the pandemic might it have been a missed opportunity to find out how many bicycles were potentially available per household, to give an idea for future planning.
Similarly, why exclude motorcycles? They also need (minimal) parking and facilities, and can help reduce congestion.
Too late now, but shows some of the blinkered thinking involved in making up the questions.
Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward.

 

[MontyVeda]

Only problem I had was religion - made me think
dunno what my religion is really - born CofE but only been to church when I had to - so school, weddings and funerals

pretty sure I don;t believe in an afterlife - so there's that
don't really believe in what the religious authorities say I should believe in - or like a lot of what they do

but.........


Ended up ticking Christian - but I haven't saved it yet so I may go back and change it to 'No Religion'

rest of it was fine

I'd have rather have had an 'atheist' option than just 'no religion'... like you, brought up CofE, don't believe in an afterlife, but know a few hippy types who, whilst having no religion, do mumble spiritual stuff every now and then.

Other than that, simple enough, not too intrusive.

Are the questions much different than 2011, or 2001, or '91 or '81??? I've slept since then

 

[ColinJ]

I was looking for the tricky memory test question - "Do you remember ever having filled in a census form before?"...





(Alarmingly, my answer would have been "No", despite this being my 4th time! )

 

[MontyVeda]

I thought it was extremely boring. None of the questions was remotely interesting.

The interesting bit is when the data comes back... but I am a bit of a geek.

I take the point about only asking about cars and not bikes. No one at my house drives and can't think of any previous tenants in the flats above and below me having a car... plenty of utility type cyclists though

 

[annedonnelly]

In the feedback section at the end I queried the rather car centric question on household access to vehicles, as they limit it to cars and vans. I pointed out that with the recent increase in temporary cycle facilities due to the pandemic might it have been a missed opportunity to find out how many bicycles were potentially available per household, to give an idea for future planning.
Similarly, why exclude motorcycles? They also need (minimal) parking and facilities, and can help reduce congestion.
Too late now, but shows some of the blinkered thinking involved in making up the questions.
Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward.

So did I, but I doubt they'll take much notice.

 

[theclaud]

I'm not sure availability of bicycles alone tells anyone very much. There's a huge number of bicycles sitting unused in sheds. Access to a car, on the other hand, is an extremely significant metric and a handy proxy for other forms of socio-economic inequality. In essence, driving is a habit of the relatively affluent for which the poor disproportionately pay the consequences.

 

[Archie_tect]

A question asking do you have use of a bike? - followed by a drop down list to ask how many times a month you use it, and a second drop down list to ask for what purpose- would've revealed a lot of useful data.

 

[srw]

We just did ours. I discovered that my wife is British but I'm English.

It's possible to say that you're both. The nationality question is one where it's possible to have multiple identies.

 

[srw]

I'm not sure availability of bicycles alone tells anyone very much. There's a huge number of bicycles sitting unused in sheds. Access to a car, on the other hand, is an extremely significant metric and a handy proxy for other forms of socio-economic inequality. In essence, driving is a habit of the relatively affluent for which the poor disproportionately pay the consequences.

There are plenty of other ways that the ONS has to find out information about the population, including whether they cycle. They are doing regular surveys all the time.

The census is important because it's (by and large) universal, which means that it can get down to very granular local areas. In the case of cars, as well as being a proxy for poverty it provides information for local road capacity - other forms of transport don't hog road space in the way that cars do. It also tells us and the government which of the very many experiments that have been done to discourage car ownership and usage have actually worked.

 

[Salad Dodger]

Easy enough, but about 20 mins for a house with 3 adults in it.....

 

[Blue Hills]

Easy enough, maybe 15 minutes.

However, its badly thought out. The answer to one question may make the next question totally irrelevant, but the process isn't smart enoughntinrecognise this and asks the question anyway. Not a big deal, but with all the money spent on its disappointing that that didn't hire someone with a braincell to oversee the design of the question flow.

When I told it I was retired it then asked what my last job was. I selected police officer from the list, and it then asked what the type of work dealt with. Really? I just wrote "locking up villains", on the basis that they asked a stupid question so deserved an aswer in kind.

Yes i wondered about that Second question and felt that they would get Some sarky replies. Thanks for proving me right must admit to also being puzzled, tho i know nothing about statistical research. How can they tabulate/analise the contents of that freeform text box? Or do they just fancy a laugh?

 

[Blue Hills]

Only problem I had was religion - made me think
dunno what my religion is really - born CofE but only been to church when I had to - so school, weddings and funerals

pretty sure I don;t believe in an afterlife - so there's that
don't really believe in what the religious authorities say I should believe in - or like a lot of what they do

but.........


Ended up ticking Christian - but I haven't saved it yet so I may go back and change it to 'No Religion'

rest of it was fine

I'd put
No religion

 

[figbat]

The job title one is a bit silly. My job title is pretty much meaningless unless you work in the same bit of the same company as me. In the end I went for the generic job type that is the closest from the list that insurance quote sites use.

 

[sheddy]

I think 2011census asked your method of transport.