Tri-modal Data Collection for Singapore Census
February 10, 2008
General Household Survey 2005: Innovations in Fieldwork Operations
by Mr Edmond Lee and Mr Tan Kian Heng
Social & Population Statistics Division
Singapore Department of Statistics
Statistics Singapore Newsletter, September 2006, 8-10.
For the large-scale 2005 General Household Survey, the Singapore Department of Statistics used an innovative approach which relied on: Internet enumeration, Computer Assisted Telepone Interviewing (CATI) as well fieldwork. Data was collected from 90,000 dwelling units over 12 – 15 weeks. Household chose to submit surveys via the internet or by telephone interview. If the survey was not complete by the due date, field interviews visited the households. For even more efficiency, if a household completed the survey after the due date, an automated systems sent an SMS message to the appropriate field interviewer.
The mobile surveys included branching as well as data consistency and security support. The article doesn’t specify what kind of software was used for programming the mobile survey, but it seems most likely that the software was custom developed for internal use.
