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Microcensus FAQs
Miscellaneous
How can a codebook be generated?
A codebook including the basic count consists of the following parts:
- Information about the variables
- Randomly selected and non-weighted frequencies
Generating a codebook with SPSS:
GET FILE = ‚filename‘.
DISPLAY DICTIONARY.
[Display Dictionary supplies information about all variables included
in the dataset: variable name, labels, position of each variable in the
System File, print and write format, missing values and value labels.]
FREQUENCIES VARIABELS = EF1 to EF738.
[randomly selected and non-weighted frequencies of the variables. Attention!
Exclude the weighting variable, as it is very lengthy and a frequencies
output would not make sense.]
Is there a database with literature about the
Microcensus?
There is no special literature database of publications which are based
upon
Microcensus analyses or rather deal with the Microcensus. For further
inquiries, Solis- and SOFIS- Databases can be
consulted.
Information about publications with Microcensus analyses are collected
by GML (emphasis Microcensus) and recorded in a database. An overview of the publications (including Grey Literature) that originated
based on Microcensus´ Scientific Use File, can be found here.
Concrete questions about literature of the Microcensus can be directed via
e-mail to our Userlist.
Why do the distributions that have been generated
with Microcensus data (Scientific Use File) differ from official
published data?
The Scientific Use File is a factual-anonymized 70% subsample of the
Microcensus. Publications of statistical offices are based on
projected and continuously updated population data. In order to generate a comparable result, the same
projection factors regarding persons, houeseholds and families need to be
used. Furthermore, since the Scientific Use File is a 70 percent subsample, a
design-weighting with the reciprocal of the sampling fraction (70/100 for
the extrapolation to 1 percent of the poulation) has to be conducted.
Because of the sampling procedure and the tendency towards decreasing
accuracy of attributes within anonymization, deviations of the
estimate, based on the Scientific Use File, and published results of
statistical offices, can occur.
Why are cases of "not
stated" in the Microcensus,
where disclosure is usually obligatory?
1) Due to the obligation of selected
households to disclose, household participation is approximately 97
percent; i.e. the
Unit-Nonresponse (households not reached or not available etc.) is
marginal
compared to many other surveys.
Further infomation regarding nonresponses in the Microcensus can be found
in the publications listed below:
2) Several questions from
the Microcensus are not subject to disclosure, e.g. questions on the year
of marriage and education and advanced training of people older than 51
years etc. These questions were not answered in up to 10 percent of the
cases (Item-Nonresponse). In the data set descriptions (key lists) it is
noted for which questions and variables disclosure is required.
3) Also by questions where disclosure is required, non-response is
possible since for example sime respondents do not give information
regarding their income. The statistical offices attempt to convince the
respondents that their information is necessary. However, the interviewers
are not always successful. Item-Nonresponse is especially high by written
surveys than by traditional face-to-face interviews. Information regarding
the type of interview is listed in Microcensus´ Scientific Use File
beginning in 1996 with the variable "EF9 Bogenart". Further information on
non-response can be found in the following publications:
- Emmerling, D./Riede, T., 1994: Zur
Freiwilligkeit in der Auskunftserteilung im Mikrozensus. Wirtschaft
und Statistik (6): 435-449.
- Lüttinger, P./Riede, T., 1997: Der
Mikrozensus: amtliche Daten für die Sozialforschung. ZUMA-Nachrichten
41: 19-43.
- Riede, T./Emmerling, D., 1994: Analysen
zur Freiwilligkeit der Auskunftserteilung im Mikrozensus. Wirtschaft
und Statistik (9): 733-742.
© GESIS Yvonne Lechert
08. August 2007
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